


Archive Of Longings

by BelladonnaInBloom



Category: The Worst Witch (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Angst with a Happy Ending, Childhood Memories, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Smut, F/F, Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, Hackle Endgame, Love Triangles, Pining, Smut, Teenage Hecate Hardbroom, Useless Lesbians
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-09
Updated: 2020-03-13
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:20:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 25,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22153921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BelladonnaInBloom/pseuds/BelladonnaInBloom
Summary: It’s very difficult to keep the line between the past and the present. At least that’s how Hecate feels ever since relics of her past started showing up on her doorstep. A trunk full of her mother’s long forgotten journals appear only days before Pippa is to arrive at Cackle’s to attend a workshop on elemental magic.Try as she might to distract herself with the event, Hecate just can’t resist the onslaught of memories that always come rushing back whenever Pippa rears her pretty head. As their tumultuous relationship plays out in the past and present, Ada watches with an aching of her own, one that she has long suppressed but has never been able to escape.
Relationships: Amelia Cackle | Ada Cackle/Hardbroom, Hardbroom/Pentangle (Worst Witch)
Comments: 43
Kudos: 74





	1. The Awaiting Arms Of The Past

Hecate Hardbroom watched from her window as two first-year students tore across the grounds laughing and yelling louder than would have been appropriate had they actually been on fire. They dodged and weaved invisible threats, playing a game the rules of which were privy only to them. Hecate’s first instinct was to tell them that they were to cease the racket immediately and start acting their age, but there was something that held her back. 

The summer was dying around them and there was a coolness nipping at the heels of the breeze. Such an air can pull the nostalgia out of the best of us. Hecate found her mind drifting back to two very similar girls in a very different place and time…

_“Pippa! Pippa, wait up!” Hecate yelled as she chased after Pippa’s laughing figure in the woods behind Pentangle’s Academy. “Pippa, where are we going?!”_

_“No questions, Hecate! That’s one of the rules!” Pippa called back breathlessly from up above, followed by a peel of rambunctious giggles._

_Don’t ask questions and do what I say, Hecate thought, Rules that we all wish our friends would follow._

_Without warning, Pippa came to a halt and Hecate ran directly into her back, causing them both to fall to the ground. They were both nearly in fits with laughter as they tumbled on top of each other in the soft field beneath them. As the giggles began to subside, Hecate sat up and looked around where Pippa had brought her. They were in a small grove of trees, densley cut off from the rest of the woods. They were surrounded by a field of soft exotic purple flowers growing beneath them as well as up the trees and into the canopy._

_Hecate stared at them in wonder. “What are they?” she asked._

_“I don’t know,” Pippa shrugged as she pulled a few blooms free and spun them between her fingers. “I think they’re enchanted though. They only bloom on the day of a full moon.”_

_“How strange,” Hecate whispered. “They’re beautiful.”_

_Pippa grinned at her. “I’m so glad you like them, Hiccup. They remind me of you,” Pippa took the flower in her hand and gently tucked it behind Hecate’s ear, causing her to blush deeply._

_Before she could ask how exactly these flowers resembled her, Pippa shot up and tore off deeper into the woods with a wild laugh. Hecate jumped to her feet giggling and chased after Pippa again, wherever she may lead._

Hecate shook herself back into reality. The first years were gone now, undoubtedly causing chaos and commotion in some other corner of the grounds. With a brisk clearing of her throat, Hecate grabbed the paperwork that needed to be transported to Ada’s office and walked out of the door, eager to put literal as well as figurative space between herself and a rip-tide of memories that threatened to pull her under. 

***

“Oh Hecate, wonderful timing, I was just about to go in search of you,” Ada said as Hecate closed the office door behind her. 

“Oh?” Hecate asked anticipatorily. “No fresh calamity I hope,” Hecate asked, eyeing the opened letter laying on Ada’s desk. 

“No, nothing of the kind. Do you recall my saying that I was going to invite a few other schools to join us for Ms. Weststar’s workshop next week?”

“I remember you saying that you were considering it,” Hecate said. 

“Ah, well, I have invited them and although we received quite a few no’s, we also received two very enthusiastic yes’s. So, I think we can swing a packed house after all. Isn’t that wonderful?” Ada beamed up at Hecate, clearly eager at the prospect of next week’s magical hubbub. 

“Yes very, if a bit short notice,” Hecate smiled grudgingly at Ada’s generosity. She had already felt unprepared for the chaos Ms. Weststar’s visit might cause. Now she would have to contend with two other schools as well.

“It is a bit of a crunch, but I’m sure that we’ll manage,” Ada’s eyes twinkled optimistically. “Each school is sending five or so of their top pupils from the upper years. I thought we could have a bit of a feast on the day they arrive, then they would stay for the full day of the workshop and be off the following morning,” Ada said, sounding practically giddy in her anticipation. 

Hecate stopped anxiously making her mental checklist to smile at Ada, amused by her enthusiasm. 

“I hope that this might become a tradition of sorts. There just isn’t enough comradery between schools nowadays. We forget that we’re all one community,” Ada said. 

“I quite agree,” Hecate said and paused. “You haven’t told me which schools have accepted your offer.”

“You’re right, how silly of me. Our two guests will be Alchemy’s and Pentangle’s,” Ada said. 

Hecate could feel Ada’s glance linger on her as she said the name Pentangle, watching for a reaction. Hecate remained composed but feared some small movement would betray her. “Ah. Good,” she said, getting up to recommence arranging papers.

“I’m glad that Pippa accepted after all. I want to put all of that bad business from last year behind us. Do make her feel welcome, Hecate,” Ada said with a kind smile.

“Of course, Ada, whatever you like,” Hecate said absently. 

***

Ada sighed as she went back to answering her mail. She had been suspicious of Hecate’s past with Pippa ever since she had first seen them interact and she had quickly become equally suspicious of their present. It was hardly realistic to hope that Hecate would ever say what was really going on between them. Her ever inscrutable face grew even more so the second that Pippa’s name was mentioned. 

Ada couldn’t pretend that it didn’t pain her to think of the two of them. However, she had accepted long ago that any potential she and Hecate might have had was squandered at first meeting or at least shortly thereafter. 

She had taken an interest in Hecate from the first moment she walked into the school. The way that she held herself, so cool and self-assured was captivating. At the time, Ada had considered her options and decided that she could never pursue a relationship with an employee. It was inappropriate and any crush was hardly worth the drama that such a relationship could cause. Consequently, any chemistry she felt was duly suppressed beneath her friendly professionalism. 

However, as the years went on and the two of them grew closer, her feelings began to morph into something more meaningful. Ada had seen Hecate defend the school and Ada herself with the ferocity of a wild dog only to turn to her later with a smile betraying all the softness deftly hidden beneath all that fire and ice. She began to wonder what might have happened if she hadn’t been so strict. Would it have really been so bad running this place with a lover instead of a friend?

But wandering over the paths of what might have been did little good for anyone, she thought. Ada put the past aside and tried to continue with her work. 

“Oh dear,” Ada muttered as she lay eyes on a package in the corner of her office. It was a large, old trunk wrapped up tight with a strap and topped with a card addressing it to Miss Hecate Hardbroom. It has appeared in the front hall this morning and Ada took it to her own office for safe keeping. 

In all her excitement, it completely slipped her mind and now Hecate had walked out without ever knowing it was here. Ada hadn’t the faintest clue what this package might be, but it looked so odd and mysterious that she feared that it might be important.

It was too heavy and large to be lifted gracefully so Ada let it float in front of her as she walked down the hall to Hecate. 

“Come in,” Hecate called when she heard Ada’s rap on the door. 

“Good evening, Ada. You haven’t had another school graciously accept your invitation have you?” Hecate asked, raising her eyes to her friend and suddenly noticing the large ratty trunk floating before her. “Whatever might that be?” she asked with apprehensive curiosity. 

“I was hoping that you could tell me. It arrived addressed to you this afternoon,” Ada said, lowering the package onto a nearby table. “I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you earlier, but I completely forgot that it was there.”

“What?” Hecate said, rising to investigate. She walked to the table with a confused air and picked up the card as if it must be some mistake. After all, who could be sending her something like this?

Despite her confusion, the card did indeed have her name and she recognized the handwriting at once. “It’s from my Aunt Moira. How strange, we’ve hardly spoken since my grandmother died and that was a decade ago,” Hecate said. 

“My goodness, that does sound personal. I’ll leave you to open it in private,” Ada said with a nod, turning towards the door. 

“Ada,” Hecate called out to stop her. “You don’t have to run off. My aunt holds not secrets of mine, certainly none that I would care about keeping from you,” Hecate said.

Ada nearly blushed returning to Hecate’s side. She was always touched when Hecate considered her to be a confidant. She wouldn’t turn down any opportunity to support Hecate or to satisfy her own curiosity as to what that package contained. 

Hecate opened the card to reveal more of the same pristine, flowery script. She began to read aloud.

_Dear Hecate,_

_I found this trunk in Mama’s attic. I thought you might like to have it, as anything inside must be rightfully yours._

_Hoping all is well,_

_Moira_

Hecate and Ada exchanged a curious glance, both piqued by each new layer of mystery. 

Hecate slid off the strap and unlatched the trunk carefully. As she pulled open the lid, she revealed a large collection of journals, notes and other books. She furrowed her brow as she pulled out one book and then another, each revealing the same name.

“Claudia Hardbroom?” Ada asked over her shoulder.

“My mother,” Hecate said in a near-whisper, tracing her finger over the name in a show of uncharacteristic sentimentality. 

Ada watched her, trying to read the enigmatic expression on Hecate’s face. “Funny, I don’t think I’ve ever heard you mention your mother,” Ada said after a moment’s consideration. 

Hecate smiled sadly, “I’m sure you haven’t. She died when I was six. I hardly remember her now,” Hecate said with a rueful shrug. 

“Oh, Hecate, I’m so sorry,” Ada said, gingerly putting a hand on Hecate’s shoulder.

Hecate shook her head to stop any further outpourings of sympathy. “It was a long time ago,” she said. They sat in silence as Hecate flipped through the journals haphazardly. 

“I’ve never had much of hers before. After she died, I grew up in my grandmother’s house and god knows there was hardly so much as a memory of my mother there, at least not that I could get at. I thought that all of this had been destroyed,” Hecate’s voice was distant and soft as she mulled over her past. 

Ada listened with a puzzled look of concern. She knew so little about Hecate’s upbringing. She certainly knew that Hecate wasn’t close to her family, but Ada had never probed beyond the few details that Hecate had shared voluntarily.

Hecate met Ada’s gaze and as if reading her mind said “Sorry. I supposed that you don’t know much of my mother’s story. It was infamous gossip in its day, but that was a long time ago.”

“If you were trying to pique my curiosity, you have certainly succeeded,” Ada said, taking a seat beside Hecate.

“You see, my mother was quite a non-traditional witch. She believed that our world should not be kept secret from the world at large. For that, among many other countercultural tendencies, she left her family and began to live among non-magical people. She was making quite a decent trade selling spells to young women- healing stuff mostly and the occasional love potion, of course. The Hardbrooms cut her off financially and shunned her, even more so once I came along, the product of an affair with a married, non-magical man,“ Hecate said.

“Oh my,” said Ada, rapt with attention.

“Indeed,” Hecate raised her eyebrows and sighed. “Once I was in my grandmother’s care, her top priority was to ensure that I didn’t grow up to bring more shame to the family. So any traces of my mother’s influence were soundly erased.” Hecate’s lips twisted into a resentful grimace at the mention of her grandmother. 

“Is this the two of you?” Ada asked, holding up a picture of a beautiful woman with flowing black tresses holding a small child on her lap. 

Hecate beamed when her eyes met the picture. “That must have been just before the accident. I can’t be more than five there,” she said. 

“I’d certainly know you anywhere, Hecate. Look at that serious little face,” Ada laughed, pointing at the mature, solemn expression which looked so out of place on the face of a child not yet big enough to be off of her mother’s lap. 

Hecate smiled bittersweetly, “I suppose some things never change,” she said.

“I think you’re adorable,” Ada said kindly. “What a lovely picture of the two of you.”

Ada picked up another picture of the same woman, although a few years younger, sitting formally for a portrait. “Your mother is lovely. All that dark hair, and those black eyes. She’s stunning,” she mused fondly. “She looks just like you,” she said before realizing how that sentence sounded.

Hecate turned to her, slightly taken aback but not displeased by the indirect compliment. Ada turned her attention to the picture, slightly worried that she may have said too much and made things uncomfortable. 

Hecate moved nearer Ada to look at her mother’s portrait as well. “She is lovely,” Hecate said warmly. Whatever Hecate was feeling, it did not seem to include discomfort. Relieved, Ada relaxed and took a seat by the fire to look through the other photos in the collection.

In no hurry to part ways, they passed the rest of the evening in a comfortable silence. Ada making tea as Hecate paged through journals, pointing out interesting spells or observations. 

It was cozy and quiet as the warm fire chased away the cold night air and the memories settled in around them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! [Follow me on Tumblr](https://belladonnainbloom.tumblr.com/)


	2. The Arrival of Familiar Faces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hecate remembers a painful summer evening spent in the Pentangles household. 
> 
> Meanwhile, in the present, it's the first day of the long-awaited Cackle's workshop. The two schools make their entrances.

Many years ago... Hecate age 12

_Pippa lay on her bed, legs dangling languidly off of the side. Her hand was raised idly levitating a white rose in circles above her. Hecate lay beside Pippa watching the rose spin higher and higher. She pulled a red rose out of the bouquet on the dresser and levitated it beside Pippa’s, winding the stems together until the two were hopelessly knotted, stuck on each other’s sharp thorns._

_They both giggled at the sight of the flowers and let them fall._

_“I’ve been thinking about those enchanted flowers, the purple ones in the woods,” Pippa said idly. “Do you think I could enchant a flower so it was connected to me? So it would only bloom when I was happy, or sad to cheer me up, or perhaps only when I was in love?” Pippa asked, still staring at the ceiling dreamily._

_Hecate shrugged. “I suppose so. It sounds very complicated though, I haven’t the faintest idea how you’d even start.”_

_Pippa thought about it. “I bet I could find something useful in Mama’s private library,” she said in a tone of affected nonchalance, watching Hecate carefully in a sideways glance._

_Hecate was hesitant, “you mean the library that you’re never supposed to enter?” Hecate asked with a disbelieving laugh._

_“That’s the one,” Pippa said, her veil of indifference falling away to reveal an eager, devious smirk as she turned to face Hecate._

_“You could also try the regular library,” Hecate said sensibly, trying to keep Pippa on stable ground._

_“Of course. But where’s the fun in that? Besides, Mama’s library has all the best books,” Pippa said pleadingly, trying to get Hecate to go along with her schemes. Hecate only stared at her in response._

_“She’s out for the evening with her friend. Every time the two of them go out together, they drink gallons of wine and come back at three in the morning completely out of their senses. She’ll never catch us,” Pippa argued._

_Pippa’s face was alight with excitement, the unique kind of excitement that is only found at the onset of a new idea during the delirium of summer’s sleepy haze. Hecate considered for a moment, but try as she might, she couldn’t resist that look. “Alright,” Hecate said, a smile spreading across her face._

_“Oh! I knew you’d say yes,” Pippa said and she sauntered out of the room, pulling Hecate along._

_The two girls walked into the library. Hecate, who had never been inside before, was awed by the rows of neat, imposing bookshelves, not to mention the deep green leather chairs that sat in the middle of the room._

_Pippa skipped to the furthest bookshelf with a giggle and began picking up books. She read the titles aloud as she picked up each one, “Gratifying Glamors”, which was shaped like a mirror, “Electrifying Enchantments”, which had a large lightning bolt on the cover, “Confounding Curses,” which had a suspicious number of turned down pages._

_“Hmmm… not quite,” Pippa said as she discarded these finds._

_Pippa’s comment was met with a laugh that did not belong to Hecate, but rather Mrs. Pentangle who was clearly just outside the door._

_“Hide!” Pippa whispered frantically. Hecate hardly needed to be told and quickly they stole away behind the curtains blocked from view by a well placed potted fern. The girls pressed closer to each other trying to fill as little space as possible as they heard the door open._

_Pippa had been right about one thing, her mother and her friend were absolutely trashed. They were speaking loudly and slowly and laughing at everything the other said, whether it was a joke or not._

_“I’m afraid we can’t dear, we have company. One of Pippa’s little friends,” Mrs. Pentangle said in apparent response to her friend’s attempt to make plans._

_“Oh? Daughter of anyone I know?” her friend asked casually._

_“I suppose so, if only by reputation. Our house is currently graced by Claudia Hardbroom’s half-breed little bastard.” Hecate’s breath caught in her throat._

_“Oh my dear, do you really think that...suitable?” she said with an air of concern._

_“Truth be told, I do not. But Pippa, open-minded as she is, is terribly attached to the girl. And honestly, the child is docile enough and terribly serious. Truly nothing like the mother was, so wild and carefree, you know. She could hardly be a bad influence on Pippa, In fact, I’m afraid it’s rather the other way around.” Mrs.Pentangle chuckled good naturedly at her own malice._

_Hecate cowered closer to the floor, her face hot with shame. Mrs. Pentangle’s words stung her in ways that she was too young to articulate._

_Pippa looked at the floor in mortified horror. She clearly wished that they had never come down here but were rather still ensconced in their cozy bedroom upstairs. But the deed was done and now, more than ever, there was nothing they could do but wait._

_***_

The Present

“Girls! Calm down, you want to look presentable for when they arrive,” Dimity Drill scolded the rambunctious crowd. The girls, who truly wanted no such thing, quieted down anyway.

The much awaited evening had finally arrived. Miss Alchemy and Miss Pentangle were due any moment and the entire school was congregated on the lawn to welcome them inside. 

Ada was fidgeting with her rings in nervous excitement. “What time is it Hecate? We can’t have long now,” Ada said. But Hecate didn’t have a moment to consult her pocket watch before a fleet of broomsticks could be seen cresting the horizon. 

A number of murmurs across the crowd confirmed the approaching group.

“I can’t tell at this point, do you think it’s Alchemy’s or Pentangle’s?” Ada wondered aloud, peering at the group.

“Alchemy’s” Hecate said coolly. “Their entrance is far too mundane to be otherwise.” She was remembering every grand entrance in Pippa’s past. However she chose to arrive today, it certainly would not be missed. 

Miss Alchemy landed on the lawn followed by a neat procession of girls and walked confidently towards Ada. 

“Miss Cackle, it has been too long. Well met,” Miss Alchemy said. 

“Well met, Miss Alchemy, we are delighted to have you,” Ada said warmly. “I’d like to introduce you to my staff.” 

“Well, you don’t have to introduce me to Miss Hardbroom, we go way back. How are you, dear?” Miss Alchemy asked. 

“Very well, thank you. I was so sorry to hear about your mother,” Hecate said with a consoling smile.

“Yes, we all were. But at her age, she had to go from something,” Miss Alchemy said with a gruff nod. 

Ada looked at them puzzled until she recollected that Hecate had attended Alchemy’s as a child, most likely when the current Miss Alchemy’s mother was in charge. As their conversation petered out, Ada continued introductions. Pleasantries were exchanged on either side as staff and visiting students were introduced. 

Miss Alchemy was an old, stout witch with greying hair and a ruddy complexion. Her expression was not unfriendly but looked as if she took little nonsense, much was the reputation of her school. 

Any conversation amongst the newly mingling group was soundly cut short as a new set of brooms began to appear on the horizon. Pippa Pentangle rode at the head of the formation with a selection of students behind her, each one’s broom trailing a sparkling tail of a different color. 

As the group was just getting close enough to land, Pippa gave a signal and each girl sent up a charm, creating a multi-colored firework display among them as they touched the ground. 

The crowd cheered happily for their show. Hecate tapped her hands together slowly in tepid applause, paired with a thin-lipped grimace at this unnecessary but completely expected spectacle. 

“Welcome Pentangles!” Ada said with an excited smile. “Now, we have our entire party under our roof.”

Pippa dismounted her broom gracefully, smoothing her pink dress as she strolled forward all smiles and charm. “Miss Cackle, so good of you to invite us. We were thrilled at your invitation.” Upon meeting Hecate’s gaze, her smile grew more intense, although it was only met by a rather stiff nod in response. 

As Miss Alchemy had done before her, Pippa began to introduce her students one by one, concluding with “Amanda Athame.” Upon the last name being announced, Enid Nightshade called out, “Amanda?!” 

This was met by an equally enthusiastic, “Enid?!” And the two girls ran to embrace each other. 

Hecate glared at them for their display, prompting a “Sorry, Miss Hardbroom,” from Enid and an instant quieting of them both. Hecate continued to eye them suspiciously. She knew that anyone embraced so warmly by Enid Nightshade could only prove to be a troublesome addition to the school.

“How wonderful that you two already know each other,” Pippa said, eyeing Hecate as if purposefully opposing her disapproval. 

The introductions continued and Hecate overheard Mildred whisper, “How do you know each other?”

“We were both at Amulet’s before I got chucked out,” Enid whispered back.

“And me about a month after her,” Amanda giggled. 

Hecate cleared her throat and shot them an icy glare, prompting them to fall silent, at least until the girls began to file inside the castle to prepare for dinner when they were free to chatter anew. 

As the girls dispersed, Miss Alchemy walked closer to Pippa and Hecate and said. “How strange it is to see you two girls together again. You should drop by the school and see the old place. Although, I fear that little has changed since your time there,” she said with a laugh. “You might find it all a bit old fashioned now.”

“Well, that sounds like would suite Hecate just fine then,” Pippa jabbed with a smile. When she saw Hecate’s grimace strengthen, she said “Oh, lighten up Hecate. You can’t deny it. Same black, same gloom… we’d certainly never fail to recognize you.” 

“I fail to see how constancy is a flaw,” Hecate said, eyebrows rising up to her hairline in an imperious stare. 

Ada smiled at what she perceived at good-natured jousting and Hecate pursed her lips in annoyance. 

***

The remaining teachers walked into the school after the girls, Pippa and Miss Alchemy walking ahead, leaving Hecate and Ada trailing several feet behind. 

“I had completely forgotten that you had attended Alchemy’s as a girl. I think of you as Cackle’s through and through, even though I know it’s untrue,” Ada said.

Hecate smiled at the sentiment, “Yes, I did.”

Ada thought for a moment and said, “I had never given it much thought before, but weren’t you and Pippa at school together?”

“Yes,” Hecate said and furrowed her brow, not sure where these questions were leading. 

“How strange. Why did Pippa not attend her family’s school? It seems so unusual,” Ada asked. 

“Oh,” Hecate said, relieved that _this_ was the focus of Ada’s curiosity. Hecate’s mind crept into the past. “Well, you see, Pippa’s mother was a very,” she paused, searching for the right word, “a very hard woman. She didn’t want Pippa to have any special treatment, fearing that she wouldn’t strive to succeed. Really, she wanted Pippa to fear her school and all of its mistresses so she would have to work hard to please,” Hecate explained. “Which clearly, never would have happened at Pentangles where Pippa had spent her entire childhood running through the halls, wrapping everyone within them around her little finger.” Ada smiled at the thought, imagining how charming an eight year old Pippa Pentangle must have been.

“Not that it made much of a difference,” Hecate continued. “At Alchemy’s, Pippa was scared of very little and it took her almost no time to wrap each of its inhabitants around her finger just as snuggly.”

“I never met Pippa’s mother, but it certainly sounds like Pippa fell very far from that tree,” Ada observed. 

“Pippa would certainly agree with you on that point. On the surface, I think most people would say so,” Hecate paused. “But underneath it all, I think that they have more in common than Pippa would ever allow.”

Ada opened her mouth to ask what Hecate meant by this but stopped abruptly when she noticed that a gloomy cloud had passed over Hecate’s face. Realizing that the past could be a dangerous place to tread, Ada changed the subject. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! [Follow me on Tumblr](https://belladonnainbloom.tumblr.com/)


	3. Nights Spent Staring

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the past, after escaping from Mrs. Pentangle's library, Hecate broods over her connection to her mother. 
> 
> Meanwhile, in the present, Cackle's festivities get underway with an opening day feast.

In the past, after escaping the library of Mrs. Pentangle... Hecate age 12 

_Pippa perched awkwardly on the side of her bed, trying unsuccessfully to catch Hecate’s gaze. “I’m sorry, Hecate, it’s all my fault. I never thought that she’d come home so soon. She never does…” Pippa wanted to ramble further but she shut her mouth in an act of self-discipline._

_“Don’t apologize, it’s alright,” Hecate said in a thoroughly unconvincing tone of voice._

_Pippa wrung her hands in anxiety, nerves bubbling in her throat. “It’s not alright. What Mummy said is horrible. But it doesn’t matter what she thinks, anyway. Who cares if she thinks your not pure enough for me to befriend? I couldn’t care a wit about who your mother was, Hiccup,’” Pippa smiled reassuringly, desperate for this uncomfortable conversation to end._

_“I know you don’t,” Hecate said. She managed to muster a small smile, which, weak as it was, seemed to satisfy Pippa._

_“Can we just go to sleep and forget that this happened?” Pippa asked, clasping Hecate’s hand in her own. Hecate nodded and both girls began to crawl into bed, pulling up the covers to protect them from the day they’d had._

_Within minutes, Pippa was soundly asleep, her lips parted in an expression of utter peace and unconcern. Hecate was not so able to shake off the evening’s incident. The words of Pippa’s mother ran through her mind on repeat. Unbidden and unwelcome though they were, there was nothing Hecate could do to stop them. She could do no more than stare melancholically at the ceiling and hear them out time and time again._

_Her feelings of shame were confused in a tangle of youth and embarrassment. She couldn’t tell whether she was ashamed of her lineage or ashamed of how little she seemed to live up to everyone’s expectations of it. It was true, she was nothing like her mother as far as she could tell. What would her mother say of her if she had lived? Probably the same things all the other girls did, that she followed too many rules, read too many books and didn’t smile nearly enough. Hecate was constantly finding herself too dull for her own mother and her ancestry too bohemian for anyone else’s._

_The far less obvious injury came not from Pippa’s mother but from Pippa herself. ‘I couldn’t care a wit about who your mother was,’ she had said._

_Somehow Hecate found this sentiment far less comforting than Pippa had clearly intended it to be. She wasn’t sure that indifference and tolerance were the gifts they were presented to be. She didn’t want to be reviled for her mother but tolerance had the same ring of disapproval. The inner sentiment was still that her mother wasn’t worth having. Only one person decided to hate her for it and the other wanted credit for rising above it._

_But how could she expect Pippa to think so well of where she came from, when she wasn’t even sure how she felt about it herself? She was always trying to prove to her living family that she wasn’t like her mother, but every time someone confirmed her success, it felt just as much like an insult. It was always to say she was so serious, so conservative, so studious, which were all words that most people said to avoid saying ‘boring’._

_With an exasperated sigh, she turned to look at Pippa beside her. Her face was the picture of cheer and calm even in sleep. Hecate felt a pang of envy at the sight of that untroubled countenance that could never be her own. Wouldn’t it be simpler to be spotless?_

_She loved Pippa and more than that, she loved the idea of Pippa. She loved the concept of someone so happy, warm and at ease. Someone so untroubled by sadness or self-doubt._

_It wasn’t quite that she aimed to be like Pippa, which was so obviously out of the reach of her serious, melancholic nature. But she did feel like she could lay beside her forever, just longing to be in the sphere of her unachievable warmth._

_***_

The Present

“Yes, yes girls, right through there. Don’t dawdle now, take your seats,” Miss Drill called out over the unruly crowd of students as they filed into the hall for supper. 

In an effort to impress its guests, Cackle’s was decked out in its finest splendor. Deep purple tablecloths ran the length of each table and glowing orbs of silver lit the room in a shimmery haze. The orbs were a bit of Hecate’s magic done especially to please Ada. The effect was delightfully spiritual as if some great conjuring may be performed at any moment. 

Once every teacher and student was seated, more or less, Ada clapped her hands and began a pre-dinner speech. 

“Welcome Alchemy’s! Welcome Pentangle’s! I know that you all must be famished by now so I promise to keep it brief. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to have you all under one roof, what a treat it is. And it is an equal treat to have Ms. Lydia Weststar joining us tomorrow,” Ada looked over the girls and beamed. “Now, Ms. Weststar will arrive tomorrow morning and her workshops will begin promptly at eight, so I encourage you all to get a good night’s sleep in preparation. But enough of my talking, let us all tuck in. And girls, please remember to make our guests feel welcome!” With a genial smile, Ada sat down and watched the girls begin to serve themselves as the murmurs of conversation grew into an indistinct roar before her. 

“Have any of you met Lydia Weststar previously to this?” Pippa asked curiously. “I never have, but I’m such a fan of her work.”

Most of the table shook their heads in response. 

“Yes I have,” Ada said. “She studied at Cackle’s actually, but we met again in a seminar that I attended over the summer holiday. She led a similar workshop there but aimed at adult witches, of course. That’s where I first persuaded her to come to Cackle’s. She’s a lovely woman,” Ada concluded warmly, remembering the kind enthusiasm that Lydia had shown at the prospect of returning to her old school.

The popularity of Ms. Weststar’s recent book and subsequent workshops had earned her quite a reputation among academic circles and a number of well placed magazine covers had earned her a much wider base of devotees.

“I can’t say that I’m not excited to meet her,” Pippa said like a guilty fangirl. “I’ve heard she’s just as pretty in real life as she is in all those photographs.”

Hecate slid her eyes over to Pippa disapprovingly. “She’s a brilliant witch. Her work on elemental magic is nothing short of groundbreaking.” Hecate said, pointedly counteracting any shallowness that she perceived in Pippa’s remark. Pippa rolled her eyes and smiled at Hecate’s stodginess. 

“She is certainly both of those things,” Ada said. “I think you’ll get on with her very well.” 

“I’ve heard she’s some kind of empath. Do you think that’s true, Ada?” Pippa asked.

Ada chuckled. “Well, I don’t know about empath, but in school, she always did have a penchant for knowing everyone else’s business. So, attribute it to whatever you will.”

The table fell into smaller conversations as each woman started in on their meal.

“I’m surprised that you admire her work, Pippa,” Hecate said to Pippa privately. “There’s certainly nothing modern about elemental work. It’s practically arcane.”

“Being modern isn’t only about abandoning the old ways, but making them relevant to our lives today, and that’s what Ms. Weststar is known for,” Pippa said. Hecate merely cocked her eyebrows, unconvinced, in response. 

Hecate sat silently, picking at her dinner. She thought that Ms. Tapioca’s food seemed a rather poor display of a feast for their guests, but no one seemed to be complaining. She glanced to Ada on her right and saw no indication that she found anything less than perfect. As Ada spoke to Ms. Alchemy, her smile was so broad that her eyes were scrunched to tiny slits behind her half-glasses and her face was flushed with the excitement of her chatter. 

Hecate smiled to herself at Ada’s unhidden joy. These past two years at Cackle’s had been so fraught with grief for Ada. If anyone deserved to have a night where their fantasy was fulfilled, it was Ada, Hecate thought. With a lighter heart, Hecate returned to her meal, feeling Ada’s pleasure almost as if it were her own. 

Various conversations from the dining hall drifted in and out of Hecate’s consciousness. Yet one in particular caught her attention.

At a nearby table, Mildred Hubble sat accompanied by Maude, Enid and Amanda Athame. 

“Amanda, I’ve been dying to know. What did you do to finally get yourself chucked out of Amulet’s?” Enid said with a mischievous eyebrow wiggle. 

“Oh,” Amanda said and immediately started laughing. “It’s rather a good story actually. You see, I might have… turned everyone’s familiars into... well... lions.” The girls’ eyes widened in shock. “It was an accident, really. I swear, I only meant to do one. The spell got a little… out of control.” Amanda’s face beamed with pride as she struggled to contain her laughter.

Hecate grimaced at the girl’s callous account. It seemed dangerous to bring any old friend of Enid’s into contact with her. But this girl especially was at least two years older than Enid and the only thing the two seemed to have in common was a mutual respect for each other’s profligate rule-breaking.

“Was everyone okay?” Mildred asked concernedly.

“Oh, yeah, perfectly. Just a bit spooked. Loads of them were up the trees hiding before Miss. Amulet could reverse it all,” Amanda said. 

Enid snorted. “I would kill to see Agnes’ face hiding up a tree cowering from her own cat.”

“Whose familiar do you think I was trying to get in the first place?” Amanda asked. 

Another round of giggles commenced as Maude and Mildred exchanged a confused glance.

“I was sure you were going to say that you hid another firework in Miss Blackthorn’s desk,” Enid said. “Amanda’s specialty was always her fireworks,” she informed Mildred and Maude with pride. 

“Magical fireworks?” Mildred asked.

“Of course, magical fireworks.” Enid rolled her eyes. “They were charmed to do all kinds of things.”

An unamused laugh broke out of Ethel Hallow who was sitting just outside of the girls’ circle. She had been quietly rolling her eyes during the entire proceeding conversation.

“I don’t know why you’re all so impressed. Fireworks are just simple fire conjuring charms and a bit of levitation. A first-year could do it,” Ethel spat.

“Lay off, Ethel, you don’t have to get nasty any time someone’s better at magic than you,” Enid said. 

“Being better at pranks does not make one better at magic,” Ethel said haughtily.

“Oh yeah? Well, why don’t you show us one then if you’re such an expert,” Amanda chimed in.

“I’m not going to do one. Unlike some people here, I don’t plan on getting expelled from every school that I attend,” Ethel said, flustered and angry.

“No, don’t worry about it. We get it, you’re chicken,” Amanda taunted. 

That was more than Hecate could let pass unnoticed. Without warning, she appeared beside the girls. Her voice was quiet, no more than a vicious whisper as she reprimanded them. 

“You girls will stop this incessant bickering this instant or I will separate you all. And if I so much as suspect that you are planning anything that will disrupt tomorrow, I will make sure you regret it,” she hissed. 

Anyone more than a few feet away could not have heard what was said, but there was such fire in Hecate’s eyes that no one would dare challenge her. 

“Yes, Miss Hardbroom.”

“Sorry, Miss Hardbroom,”

An audible kick was heard against Amanda’s shin prompting a final. “Yes, Miss Hardbroom.”

Satisfied, Hecate strode back to the table and took her seat. She made eye contact with Ada as she did so with a curt nod as if to indicate that it was handled. Ada nodded back in understanding. 

“That hardly seemed necessary,” Pippa said chastisingly as Hecate sat at her side. 

“I refuse to let them turn tomorrow into chaos,” Hecate said coolly. 

“I wouldn’t take it so seriously, Hecate. It’s right that you stepped in, but you didn’t have to be so harsh. They’re just posturing a little, showing off for each other, it’s natural,” Pippa said.

“Oh, it’s incredibly _natural_ but when someone is too desperate to prove their worth to another, someone always gets hurt,” Hecate said.

Pippa furrowed her brow but stayed silent and turned her face from Hecate.

Ada observed them without comment, feeling the tension between them twinge at every nerve on her skin. It was as it always seemed to be between them. Regardless of any seeming reconciliation that Ada observed upon their last parting, it did nothing to lessen the tense air between them when they met again. It was a cycle she failed to grasp. Although she had her suspicions, the likes of which Hecate’s stony silence on the subject only served to intensify. 

Ada felt Hecate begin to cool down from her moment of discipline. Necessary or not, Ada enjoyed seeing Hecate fly to keep the girls in line. Hecate’s anger was like her magic, deep and exacting. To Ada, there was a comfort in seeing such a weapon used in defense of something she cared for. And there was yet a greater comfort in knowing that Hecate cared to protect the event not because she wanted it to succeed, but because it meant so much to Ada.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! [Follow me on Tumblr](https://belladonnainbloom.tumblr.com/)


	4. The Sunlight Clasps The Earth...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the past, Hecate is now 17. In a moment of childish nostalgia, she and Pippa run into the woods behind Alchemy's Academy and find a field of purple flowers similar to those they had found years before. This time, however, events take a very different turn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Splitting up past and present into different chapters this time because it was getting long. Hope you enjoy this chapter (aka Hicsqueak smut in multiple timelines pt. 1)

The Past, Hecate age 17…

_Pippa and Hecate sat on the lawn of Alchemy’s Academy, each reading their books. Now teenagers themselves, they had taken to sitting studiously during their breaks. They were vaguely aware of the younger girls running through the grass, taking advantage of the early spring warmth._

_Pippa raised her eyes to watch three little girls dashing to the Witchball court with a ball in hand. Pippa abruptly closed her book and asked, “Hecate, do you remember when we used to play behind my house as little girls?”_

_“Of course I do. We were always tearing through the woods, looking for some hidden spot or another,” Hecate said smiling, thinking nostalgically about how distant those summers felt now._

_Pippa pulled Hecate to her feet with a raucous peel of giggles._

_“Pippa what are you doing?”_

_“Nope, no questions. That’s one of the rules!” Pippa said, running off towards the woods much in the same manner as she had years before._

_Hecate laughed at the sight of a fully-grown Pippa running through the field like a child. Her instinct was to disapprove, but she couldn’t resist following that blur of pink and blonde no matter where she may lead._

_It felt like they ran for hours, laughing and dodging in and out of trees. Pippa’s giggling trailed Hecate into a field of flowers, vaguely similar to the one behind the Pengangle’s house. Pippa stopped without warning when she saw it. Hecate wasn’t quite so silly as to slam into her this time, but it made little difference. Pippa pulled Hecate to the ground, both giggling breathlessly._

_Hecate lay on top of Pippa, their faces only inches apart. As the rush of the moment cooled, Hecate swallowed hard and rolled off of her, feeling flushed and awkward._

_“I don’t think I’ve ever been so deep in these woods,” Pippa said, propping herself up on her elbows._

_“Me neither,” said Hecate. “Miss Alchemy would have a fit if she saw us.” They smiled conspiratorially and broke out laughing again._

_Pippa picked a nearby purple flower and twirled it between her fingers, thinking intently for a moment. “Well, it’s not quite my lunar violets, but I suppose it will do,” Pippa said as she tucked it behind Hecate’s ear, her fingers lingering on Hecate’s cheek._

_Hecate’s skin tingled where Pippa’s fingers had been. “All those years ago, you told me that the violets reminded you of me, but you never told me why,” Hecate said nervously. She was trying to sound casual as if she had not recalled this moment privately a hundred times before._

_Pippa smiled, “Because they’re beautiful, but only I ever seem to see them bloom.”_

_Hecate flushed a scarlet red. “Oh, Pippa,” Hecate said about to brush off the compliment. Pippa grabbed Hecate’s chin and turned their faces to meet. Pippa leaned in and kissed Hecate on the lips._

_It was brief, only lasting a few moments, but Hecate felt as if her entire body was tingling with a foreign electricity. Pippa pulled away with a smirk and rose to her feet, meandering through the trees. Pippa moved at a slower pace than when she was a child, but Hecate could hardly catch up as she was practically immobilized by shock and pleasure._

_***_

Later that day...

_“It’s getting late,” Hecate said as she looked up from her homework. Hecate and Pippa were both sitting on Pippa’s dorm-room bed, finishing their homework for class tomorrow._

_“It is, isn’t it? No wonder I’m exhausted,” Pippa said, closing her work and stretching out in a performatively languid way, closing her eyes as if suddenly overcome by fatigue._

_Hecate smiled at Pippa’s reposing form. “I should go and let you get your beauty rest.” But just as Hecate swung her legs off the bed to leave, Pippa roused herself to grasp Hecate’s wrist._

_“Wait, Hecate, don’t go,” Pippa sat up eagerly. “I’ve been feeling so nostalgic today and I was thinking,” Pippa paused, “ you should stay here. It would be just like sleepovers we had when we were little.”_

_Hecate felt dumb-founded. Yes, this was just like the past, but she didn’t feel nostalgic; her mind was stuck in the much more recent past. Not a second had passed when she hadn’t thought of this afternoon’s unspoken-of kiss. At this point, Hecate wondered if it had been some sort of bizarre fantasy induced by the heady air of the wood. She would have been convinced that there hadn’t been a field at all if it wasn’t for the lingering scent of the flower’s sticky pollen in her hair._

_“Okay,” she said, suddenly unsure of what to do with her hands._

_“Oh good,” Pippa said and started getting ready for bed, chattering idly while she combed her hair. Hecate was barely listening as every ounce of concentration was focused on moving her body in a normal fashion._

_After what felt like an interminable length of time spent worrying and awkwardly fussing, the girls were in bed and Pippa’s lamp turned off, leaving nothing but abject darkness. It was a dark moon that night and without even the lunar rays to see by, it felt as if anything could be done unobserved._

_In the gauzy darkness, Hecate could only see the vague, hazy outline of Pippa’s face. She could feel the warmth of Pippa’s body spreading across the inches that separated them, mingling with her own heat._

_Hecate summoned whatever drops of courage she could call upon and began to speak. “Pippa,” she began. “About the flowers this afternoon… why did you kiss me?”_

_Pippa sat absolutely still in thought for a second that felt like an eternity. “I kissed you because I wanted to kiss you.” Pippa turned to face Hecate in the dark and looked at her sincerely._

_Even in the pitch black, Hecate could see a gleam in the eyes staring back at her. She swallowed. “Would you do it again?”_

_Without hesitation, Pippa leaned in and kissed Hecate, slower and deeper than she had in the woods that afternoon. The kiss took on new meaning laying so close with nothing but darkness between them._

_A mutual heat knitted them closer together, legs minging in a tangle of nightgowns and sheets. Hecate pulled Pippa on top of her and ran her fingers through those nectar-colored tresses. In that moment, Hecate felt that every wish, every longing she’d ever had was fulfilled by Pippa’s body wound into her own._

_Their kisses were frenzied and desperate as they playfully pulled each other’s nightdresses up inch by inch as if to not make any sudden moves._

_Their movements were unpracticed but needed no instruction. Hecate felt Pippa’s fingers delving deep inside of her, making her moan in tones she didn’t even know existed. She bit her lip so hard that it hurt as the universe exploded around her._

_The outside world seemed delightfully vague in her orgasmic haze; nothing had a concrete outline, as if every object was losing its sense of reality. The only thing that seemed real was the electricity pulsing through her soul. Even her own body seemed to lose form to her and became only the idea of euphoria._

_The night passed without a wink of sleep. They were like two shadows, tumbling over each other as if trying to merge into one darkness._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! [Follow me on Tumblr](https://belladonnainbloom.tumblr.com/)


	5. And The Moonbeams Kiss The Sea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back to the present, Hecate walks her nightly rounds trying to quiet the excited school of girls. In the darkness of the night, her mind drifts back to two years prior when she and Pippa were first reunited...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (aka Hicsqueak smut in multiple timelines pt 2) ;)

The Present…

Hecate finished her rounds, trying to get the girls to settle down and go to sleep. It felt like a losing battle. With the influx of visitors, many girls had to double up to make room for the guests. She knew that there was no keeping them quiet. Even if a momentary hush could be achieved as she walked down each hall, the giggles and chatter were sure to return the second that she was out of earshot. 

She sat down on her bed and thought of sleep, but she was just as wrought up as any of the pupils that she had chastised. Instead of laying down, she stared at the wall in front of her, deep in thought. She knew that Pippa had been given the vacant room next to her own and that the wall she pondered was all that separated them now. 

Like every other meeting that they had as adults, this one was pregnant with expectation. 

Their first reunion of two years prior had never been discussed in the daylight. It had been like a phantom seen plainly in the shadows, whose presence you reason away as a trick of the light once the sun has risen. 

But Hecate could see it clearly now and her mind drifted into the two-year-old past, where a very similar scene was playing out...

_Pentangles had left that morning and Hecate was still reeling from the reunion that Mildred Hubble had set up. She didn’t know what she wanted from their rekindled friendship. She dwelled on the image of Pippa’s face, unsure if she was willing Pippa away or calling her closer. Regardless of her confused intention, her thoughts seemed to work as a beacon and a quiet knock was heard on her door._

_Hecate rolled her eyes, sure that this would be some student who had been caught out of bed or worse yet, some new disaster that the first years had caused. She turned towards the door, about to get up to answer it, but her visitor hadn’t waited to be allowed entry. The door pushed open to reveal Pippa sliding into the room and closing the door as silently as possible as if to evade detection._

_“Pippa, what are you doing here?” Hecate said, rising from her writing desk._

_Pippa didn’t say a word, but approached her slowly with an unwavering stare. Hecate recognized that look. She had seen it hundreds of times before, but it caught her by surprise every time. Pippa moved closer, graceful and slow to kiss Hecate lightly on the lips like an invitation, dipping her toes in to test the water._

_“Pippa, I don’t think...” But Hecate didn’t get to finish her sentence. Pippa raised her hand and grasped at Hecate’s face, her thumb drifting over Hecate’s mouth and pulling down her lower lip._

_Pippa’s touch paralyzed her like a scorpion’s sting. Love, or something darker, was winding it’s spell over her and silencing the doubtful voices that had been chattering in her mind. She could neither speak nor act against Pippa even if she had wanted to. And she knew that no matter her misgivings, she did not want to._

_“When I said I missed you, Hecate, I meant that I missed all of you,” Pippa said as she slid her hand to Hecate’s waist. Hecate swallowed hard as she felt the two sides of her robe pull apart and a single finger of Pippa’s drag down her stomach slowly, making her shiver. Every conscious thought died a quiet death as they began to drown in her own deep desires._

_Pippa looked into Hecate’s dark eyes, like two pools of just hardened lava: black as night, with the promise of molten fire glimmering just beneath. She let her fingers glide between Hecate’s thighs with unforgiving pressure and watched her ebony eyes glaze over with satisfaction._

_Without stopping the dance of her fingers, Pippa moved her lips to Hecate’s ear to speak in a nearly inaudible whisper. “I know that you missed me… us… this too. You can’t deny it. I could see it in your face.” She bit Hecate’s earlobe, just hard enough to make Hecate let out a high-pitched squeak._

_The words drifted into Hecate’s consciousness, but she couldn’t seem to form a response more comprehensible than a low moan of agreement, so focused was her mind on the feel of Pippa’s fingers pressing into her._

_“Tell me that you want me,” Pippa pleaded._

_“I want you,” Hecate whimpered, overcome by the moment. “I’ve missed every inch of you. I’ve missed the taste of you.”_

_Satisfied, Pippa pushed Hecate back onto the bed and resumed kissing her. Hecate felt Pippa’s peachy lips crushing her own and her tongue flicking tentatively into her mouth._

_Hecate clawed at the back of Pippa’s robe. “Take this off,” she said and Pippa straightened to allow Hecate to pull it over her head. She fell back into the embrace._

_The feel of Pippa’s skin on hers, thighs rubbing between her own, stomachs sliding against each other in rhythmic desperation. She was beyond the reach of reality as the blood pounded in her ears._

_Pippa pulled away from Hecate’s kisses and slid two fingers between her own lips, sucking on them deliberately, never breaking eye contact with Hecate’s fiery gaze. She pulled her fingers from her mouth and slid them into Hecate with an aggressive curl._

_Hecate grasped at the pillowcase above her head, crushing the fabric in her hands as she ground her hips insistently into Pippa’s caressing hand._

_She tried to stifle her moans unsuccessfully as she bucked her hips harder in slow, stilted circles. Sensing how close Hecate was to the brink, Pippa pulled her fingers out to slide them onto her clit where she worked them in hard, fast orbits._

_Hecate’s face contorted into a silent scream and she felt her mind explode into divine clarity. With a final jolt, she began to come down to Earth. Her tensed muscles, giving up and relaxing one by one into delicious, electric exhaustion..._

A quiet creak of Pippa’s door thundered like an alarm in Hecate’s ears, drawing her back to the present. She held her breath as a few slippered footsteps drew closer and a confident hand knocked on the door. 

Hecate tried to slow her approach to the door as if she hadn’t been lying in wait, prepared to pounce on this very moment. She flung the door open and stared at Pippa without saying a word.

***

Pippa stirred in Hecate’s bed, vaguely aware of a lamplight behind her. She turned over, confused at seeing Hecate wide awake with her nose in a book, her wild black hair draping messily over her still naked body. The clock on the nightstand told her that it was just past midnight. 

“What are you reading?” she asked groggily, rubbing at her eyes.

Hecate raised her eyes, only now realizing that Pippa was also awake. “A journal of my mother’s,” Hecate said simply, returning her eyes to the page in front of her. 

Pippa looked back at Hecate, confused. “The mother that died when you were six?”

“No, Pippa. A new one that I found. Of course, that mother,” Hecate said admonishingly, still barely lifting her eyes from the journal.

“Sorry, I’m still half-asleep,” Pippa said propping herself up on her elbows. “How do you have her journals? I thought that you didn’t have anything of hers.”

“I didn’t. My aunt sent it to me. Apparently she found a truck full of them and other personal effects in my grandmother’s attic,” Hecate explained. 

Pippa raised her eyebrows, surprised. It seemed so unlike the stern matron of the Hardbroom family to have secretly kept such sentiment with her all these years. But, then again, Pippa supposed, even a woman as stoic as grandmother Hardbroom must have loved her daughter deeply, no matter how deeply her disapproval also ran. 

“Are they good?” Pippa asked. “I imagine they have to be interesting given…” Pipa paused, choosing her words carefully, “well, given the unconventional life that she led.”

Hecate paused for a moment as if deciding whether to respond or not to Pippa’s questions. Finally, she decided to close the book and responded. “They are good, but not because of that. She had so many ideas about magic and what it means to our world and the larger non-magical world, and what that distinction even means…” Hecate said, struggling to succinctly put into words the winding musings she had been reading for the past couple hours.

“That does sound interesting,” Pippa said. “It sounds a bit out there though. I can’t imagine you agreeing with a word of it,” she cocked her head and laughed lightly.

Hecate furrowed her brow. “I suppose I don’t. But it’s so well articulated, it almost makes me want to.”

“Goodness, you’re getting soft in your old age, Hecate. Honestly, I’m surprised that you’re taking it so well. On any normal day, you’re passionately railing against any ideas that aren’t traditional definitions of magic and the importance of its archaic purity,” Pippa said with a laugh. “There’s probably no two women on this earth more dissimilar than you and your mother… except maybe me and mine.”

“So everyone says,” Hecate said. 

“It’s not an insult to either one of you, Hecate,” Pippa said, sensing Hecate’s coldness. “But truly, she lived as if breaking rules and dismantling traditions were her life’s blood… all the things that you hold most dear. Sometimes it seems as though blood has no say in any of it at all.” Pippa shrugged, laying back down. “I’m going back to sleep. Don’t stay up too late, Hecate. No doubt, tomorrow will be very busy.”

“Hmm,” Hecate murmured noncommittally and returned to her mother’s book. 

Pippa could make fun of her all she wanted about caring for ‘magical purity’, but such concepts were important to her. Hecate loved magic, she loved everything about it. It had been her refuge as a child, lonely and unwanted as she had been in her grandmother’s house, awkward and unpopular as she had been in school. Magic was a way for her to create her own reality that was better than reality. 

Modern witchcraft had no respect for the craft. Modernity always felt like it aimed to take the mystic, spiritual specialness out of the world that she cherished so deeply. It shrank from the wordless depths in favor of a one-word charm and a mass-produced potion that could serve them without thought, without feeling, without... magic. Or so it seemed to Hecate. 

Perhaps her mother’s points of view could be considered ‘modern’, but they made Hecate feel completely differently than anything Pippa espoused. Her mother’s theories were not just about simplifying spells to a meaningless minimum. No, her mother’s theories were a radical look at what made up magic and how little separated the magical and non-magical worlds. What her mother envisioned was to make the non-magical world more like the magical one, with all its ancient and spiritual charms, all of its deep and powerful possibility. 

Hecate shook her head, unsure how she would articulate such a distinction even if she had wanted to. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! [Follow me on Tumblr](https://belladonnainbloom.tumblr.com/)


	6. Set your life on fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the past, Pippa and Hecate try to study in the library but distractions come in many forms. 
> 
> Meanwhile, in the present, the first morning of the workshop is finally upon us. But do things go as smoothly as planned? Of course not, this is Cackle's.

In the past... Hecate age 18

_The spring air wafted through the library window making every student itch to get out of doors. Hecate and Pippa sat in a well-lit nook beneath the open panes letting the warmth of the sun prick at their skin as they studied for their final exams._

_Though they were trying in earnest to concentrate, the afternoon continued to bring fresh opportunity for distraction. Every reach across the table was an excuse for fingers to brush over forearms and thighs to stealthily press beneath the table. This game of unspoken touch was one that the girls played whenever they studied together and although they’d been a couple for months now, it never seemed to get old._

_Hecate looked around them and found the library stacks to be quite deserted. “Pippa,” Hecate said, staring intently at the book before her. “Read this line, isn’t it fascinating?”_

_Pippa leaned in close to read the line underneath the tip of Hecate’s finger. As she did so, Hecate grabbed her face and kissed her quickly. Pippa giggled conspiratorially and looked around her to make sure they were truly alone. When she confirmed that they were, she smiled broadly and squeezed Hecate’s thigh beneath the table._

_Since their first night, the two young women had continued their affair surreptitiously in veiled encounters throughout the school, always conscious of who might be lurking around the corner. It was important that their relationship didn’t become common knowledge. After all, as Hecate knew painfully well, Pippa’s mother barely tolerated their friendship so there was little question what she would have thought of them now._

_As much as Hecate didn’t want to bow to the opinion of that hateful woman, she knew that the disapproval of Mrs. Pentangle was something to be feared in earnest. Whatever vindication open rebellion would bring would be short-lived if Pippa were to be transferred to another school in retaliation._

_But the fact that their relationship was a secret didn’t upset them. On the contrary, the secrets only made it more alluring. Each kiss in the shadows pleased them as only a secret scheme can please two young women in the depths of teenagerhood._

_“Pippa! There you are,” the high-pitched voice of Charlotte Bell called out._

_Instinctively, Pippa scooted away from Hecate, flecks of embarrassment and guilt tinted her eyes as so often happened when she feared that she may have revealed too much._

_“Hecate,” Charlotte said with distinct coolness as she inclined her head in Hecate’s direction._

_“Charlotte, Arabella, Bronwen,” Hecate said with an obligatory nod to each. Any kind words shared between Hecate and Pippa’s gaggle of hangers-on were purely out of obligation on all sides. None of them got on with Hecate particularly well and they certainly didn’t understand what special talent she could possibly possess to make her worthy of being at Pippa’s side every day._

_Not that Hecate thought any more highly of them. They were, each of them, a less impressive version of Pippa. They were all blonde and smiling, but each lacking in some way that made them accept their place as Pippa’s second-fiddle. They weren’t quite as charming, nor quite as intelligent, and their smiles lacked the warmth that Pippa inflected without effort. Hecate found them vacuous and insipid at the best of times. Nonetheless, they had an unmistakable popularity that seemed to result from nothing more than their own belief that it ought to be so._

_“What are you all doing here?” Pippa asked after a second of confusion at watching the group of them approach with such a unified purpose._

_“We have chanting rehearsal in five minutes, we’ve been looking all over for you! You are the lead after all,” Arabella exclaimed exasperatedly._

_“Oh! I completely forgot. Let me get my things and I’ll come with you.” Pippa hastily started shoving all of her books, notes, and pens into her shoulder bag._

_“Hecate, you look so glum dressed all in black like that. It hardly seems to go with the season,” Charlotte said with faux-sweetness, eyeing Hecate’s neat black dress scornfully._

_“I prefer it whether it goes well with the season or not. I’m hardly going to start wearing pastels, am I,” Hecate said matter-of-factly, as she calmly handed a frantic Pippa her Spell Science textbook._

_“Oh. Of course,” Charlotte said uncomfortably, sharing a momentary glance with Arabella out of the corner of her eye._

_“I don’t know, Hecate. Maybe you should change it up a bit, it’s not 1505 you know,” Pippa said latching on to the conversation. Although it was hardly witty, the comment prompted a peel of giggles from her friends as she rose to leave. Hecate froze; she didn’t know what to say, so she said nothing. She only stared at the group of girls with a pinched expression, trying to appear unfazed by this unexpected laughter at her expense._

_“I’ll see you later, Hecate,” Pippa said with a wave as the girls hurried off for practice._

_Hecate returned the gesture and tried to return to her work as the girls disappeared out of sight. This wasn’t the first time that Pippa had turned momentarily cold towards her in public, yet each time took her by surprise._

_But this gentle ribbing came infrequently in their otherwise tranquil existence and only when the bubble-headed trio reared its head. Hecate reasoned it away as she always did, as some attempt at hiding the nature of their relationship. Hecate often wondered what Pippa said about her to divert suspicion when she wasn’t there to hear it. She reopened her textbook, not letting her mind linger in that minefield any longer than she could help._

***

The Present

The dawn washed a sullen grey over Hecate’s room as she awoke alone in her tousled sheets. Pippa must have left at some point in the night.

Pippa.

Hecate groaned with a familiar mixture of longing and regret.

She pondered last night and wondered whether it had been a mistake or not. She stared at the ceiling with the blank searching expression that such ponderings always illicit.

Mistake or not, it didn’t truly matter, she decided. Besides, she couldn’t help but smile with satisfaction at the pale red bite marks she felt on her inner thigh.

She glanced at her pocket watch; it was barely six, meaning she had an hour before breakfast began and about ninety minutes before Miss Weststar arrived. 

She thought over the day’s schedule silently. Once their guest arrived, they would have just enough time to get her settled before classes were to begin at eight. Then there would be a general talk to all the girls, after which the students would split up into small groups based on age and skill level and commence exercises led by Miss Weststar and overseen by the Cackle’s staff. 

Hecate felt a bit of relief to hear it listed off so easily in her head. It sounded simple enough, but then again, these things always do.

***

The dining hall was more lively than Hecate had ever seen it so early in the morning. A symphony of chatter and clinking silverware swept through the hall. Every girl seemed to be talking incessantly to their neighbors and gobbling down the mediocre offerings like it was a feast. 

Hecate wasn’t sure what had them so excited about this workshop; she assumed it wasn’t about the prospect of learning. Perhaps they had seen some glimmer of Ms. Weststar’s celebrity on the cover of a magazine. Perhaps they were just wrought up over the new temporary students. Or perhaps, they were just that excited to not have to go to their normal day’s worth of classes.

“Did anything happen last night, Miss Pentangle? On my rounds, I came to your room to make sure you and your girls were all settled in but you weren’t there. I was hoping that nothing had gone awry already,” Dimity Drill said with a chuckle.

Pippa was practiced at such inquiries and the dodge came out effortless and smooth. “Oh, I was a little restless last night so I stepped out for a stroll. I’m surprised we didn’t cross paths, Miss Drill,” she said.

Hecate remained purposefully motionless and tried to look as uninterested in the conversation as she normally would have been if the topic had nothing to do with her. 

Glancing to her right, Hecate saw Ada’s steady gaze resting on Pippa, regarding her thoughtfully with an expression Hecate couldn’t quite read. Ada turned away abruptly as if disregarding her thoughts and took a drink of her tea. “I was a bit restless last night as well. I kept falling asleep only to wake up an hour later as wide awake as ever. All the excitement, I suppose,” Ada said with a soft chuckle. 

Hecate smiled to herself at the thought. Ada was like a child on Christmas Eve, kept awake and giddy by the promise of presents and chocolates in the morning. Only Ada wasn’t promised gifts and treats but only a school event and a hectic schedule for a hundred absent-minded girls. It never ceased to amaze Hecate how enduring Ada’s enthusiasm could be.

“What time is it Hecate?” Ada asked suddenly.

Hecate checked her pocket-watch. “It’s 7:25,” she replied.

Ada nodded and took one last drink of her tea. “Hmm hmm,” Ada announced as she stood up at the head of the hall. “Alright, girls, Miss Weststar will be arriving soon, so it’s time to get yourselves ready for the day. Please return to the hall promptly at eight o’clock,” Ada said with a nod and a smile.

The girls rose and dispersed into chaotic masses, each one struggling to get through the crowd to their own dormitories.

The teachers gathered in a circle, avoiding the throng of students. “She should be here anytime now,” Hecate said, checking her watch again. “We should go to the door to wait.”

“Wonderful,” Ada said. She and Hecate began walking through the stone hallways with Pippa and Miss Alchemy close behind them. 

As they approached a corner, Hecate heard the unmistakable sounds of a brewing fight, no doubt Ethel and that Pentangle’s girl again, she thought. She turned the corner, prepared to scold them and send them in separate directions. 

As they came into view, however, she saw Ethel and Amanda at opposite sides of the hall, yelling at each other and Mildred Hubble jumping between them with a look of concern on her face. 

“Amanda, don’t do this,” Mildred said. At that moment, each girl muttered some charm and a huge set of sparks emitted from their hands right at Mildred. 

Hecate lunged towards them, but Mildred crouched down instinctively to the ground and the sparks flew over her head. Hecate sighed with relief until she realized how premature that was. The sparks from each girl’s hands seemed to have emitted at the exact same moment, mingling purple and green in the air, each color seemingly competing with the other, each spell fighting to take its form. 

The battle took place over no more than a moment, but Hecate saw it as if in slow-motion, the magic mingling and eventually combining into one horrible, huge firework, presumably, the deformed combination of each girl’s intentions. It sparked bright and took off down the hall, directly towards the crowd of teachers.

On instinct, Hecate lunged forward and pushed Ada to the wall, out of the way of the firework’s path. Pippa and Miss Alchemy leaped from the oncoming flames to the opposite wall just in the nick of time.

Hecate was pressed closely to Ada , so much so that Ada could feel Hecate’s chest rising against her own as she breathed heavy, stressful breaths. Ada’s heart was beating against her ribs as if for freedom, she was sure Hecate must be able to feel its incessant rhythm. Whether its beat was the result of the firework or Hecate’s body pinning her down, she had no way to be sure. 

The fire was gone, but Hecate lingered, not giving up any space between them. 

“Are you alright?” Hecate asked Ada urgently.

Ada stared up at her with a curious expression, her face only inches from Hecate’s own. “Yes, I’m fine,” Ada said, putting her hand on Hecate’s arm, “Thank you, Hecate.” 

Hecate nodded, relieved and turned to face the problem at hand with a very different expression.

Ada heaved a breath of relief and cooled her reddening cheeks with her fingers. She glanced beyond Hecate’s form, still breathing heavily, to see Pippa and Miss Alchemy rising from the floor, both of whom Hecate had left to fend for themselves.

“You ridiculous girls!” Hecate shrieked. “Are you pleased with what you have done?”

There was a stuttering from every girl, half-formed explanations and excuses spilling out without sense, but Hecate wasn’t listening. She suddenly realized what she hadn’t heard as they were all ducking the firework’s path: a pop of the firework actually going off. 

“Did anyone actually hear the firework explode… and dissipate?” she asked tensely. Her question was met with a concerned silence. She eyed the girls, hoping momentarily they any one of them would say yes. 

“I saw it turn that corner, Miss Hardbroom,” Mildred said, her eyes fixed to the floor, her finger pointed at the hall beyond them. 

Hecate’s eyes met Ada’s momentarily and she turned to run after the escaped prank. Footsteps of the other teachers and the girls trailed behind her. They twisted through the halls, but they didn’t hear or see any trace of it. 

“Perhaps it’s gone,” Pippa suggested. 

“Usually they last much longer, but who knows how Ethel’s magic might have weakened it,” Amanda said. 

“Amanda, if you’re not going to say anything helpful, don’t say anything at all,” Pippa said sternly.

Hecate’s eyes looked so dangerous in that moment, it seemed that the girl might be in actual physical danger. But Hecate’s murderous intentions were interrupted by the sound of manic sparks flying down a nearby hall.

They turned to where the sound disappeared and resumed the chase. At least it’s going in the opposite direction of the crowd of girls in the dining hall, Hecate thought. It’s only going towards… the front door, she realized with panic as she rounded the corner to see the fiery beast shooting at top speed towards the door and a shimmer which was taking the form of Miss Lydia Weststar. 

As her form became solid, Miss Weststar quickly took stock of the situation and her eyes widened in confused panic. She raised her hands, sending huge spouts of water onto the approaching beast until it sputtered and dissipated with a muffled, unceremonious ‘pop’.

Behind the dissolving streams of water, stood Miss Weststar, still in one piece. She was a tall witch with a lean, athletic build and light brown hair pulled into a braid extending down to her waist. She wore simple black pants and a flowing purple blouse, the color of violets. She looked very near the way she was described, Hecate thought. That is, except for the expression of petrified panic painted on her face.

Miss Weststar stood in silence for a moment, her hands still raised against her vanquished foe. Hecate and the others were all frozen in a similar state of shock. Miss Weststar took a breath and lowered her arms, shaking her head as if trying to shake herself out of a nightmare.

“I do hope that’s not how you greet all of your guests,” she said sarcastically, the shock of her arrival already slipping away into curiosity.

“Miss Weststar,” Hecate said approaching her with apprehension and concern. “I’m so sorry,” she said weakly, unsure of any excuse or explanation she could possibly give.

“It’s alright, no harm done, really” she said, tossing her long braid behind her back and brushing bits of dust from her blouse. “Luckily, I have quick reflexes,” she said with a smirk. “What was that anyway?”

“A firework,” Hecate said, her lip curling in disgust. “A couple of our girls had a bit of a magical… accident.”

“Ah. Well, it seemed like a rather good piece of magic really, if lacking in control,” she said.

“And common sense,” Hecate snarled, cocking her head backwards slightly, towards the girls. Miss Weststar smiled to herself at the admonishment and the fallen heads of the responsible girls behind them. 

“Ada,” Miss Weststar said as she saw the headmistress approaching the forefront of the gathered crowd. 

Hecate watched Ada’s approach with nervous eyes and a furrowed brow. This was exactly what Hecate didn’t want Ada to have to go through. Another disaster, another chase, another apology. She knew that Amanda would be trouble. She should have followed her instincts and kept a better eye on her when she’d had the chance, Hecate admonished herself. 

“Lydia,” Ada said, clasping the woman’s hands in hers. “I’m so sorry about this, I’m sure it wasn’t exactly the reception that you were expecting.”

“It’s alright, Ada. If nothing else, it certainly woke me up.” Miss Weststar said as they began walking down the hallway to the awaiting classrooms. 

Miss Weststar’s dismissive attitude put the rest of the party at ease. This was hardly the smooth start that Hecate imagined for the day, but she supposed if someone had to be caught in the literal cross-fire of the morning, at least it was a woman both able to defend herself and unwilling to hold a grudge about it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! [Follow me on Tumblr](https://belladonnainbloom.tumblr.com/)


	7. I go to the party on my knees

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the past, Hecate attends the end-of-term ball clad in shimmering silver.  
> Meanwhile, in the present, Hecate takes some time for herself away from the day's activities only to run into two unexpected guests in the teacher's lounge.

In the past, the night of the end-of-term ball… Hecate age 18.

_Hecate placed a silver teardrop earring on each ear and stared at her reflection. She hardly recognized herself like this._

_Her hair was uncharacteristically free, flowing down her back in loose curls. She was wearing light makeup, which made her look more mature than her eighteen years. Perhaps, most importantly, her body was draped in a shimmering, silver dress, the color of starlight._

_She looked at herself with a foreign kind of pride. She had never felt very confident in her appearance. But for once, her dark hair and eyes, her ghostly pale skin, and her wiry frame seemed like assets that improved the ethereal effect of the dress._

_She smiled and bit her lip, imagining Pippa’s reaction. To Hecate, this night felt like a beginning, full of expectation with the future at their feet._

_She and Pippa were not going to the dance together officially for the same reason that they didn’t do anything officially. Granted, Pippa’s mother had less outward animosity for Hecate’s origins than she once did. As time passed, the vocal critiques of her lineage had mellowed into a vague distaste for her illegitimacy that didn’t amount to much._

_Origins aside, Hecate was not exactly the witch with whom Mrs. Pentangle wanted her daughter to end up. She had high hopes for Pippa’s place in society. As the future head of a prominent school, Pippa’s reputation was of the utmost importance. And the socially-adverse Hecate, while universally respected for her intelligence, wasn’t exactly considered charming. Her manner was brusk and intense, and she was unwilling or unable to feign interest in whatever trends the magical elite was espousing at the time. No, to Mrs. Pentangle, a match with Hecate would be holding Pippa back in exactly the arenas in which she needed to shine._

_But with the end of term ball tonight, graduation was looming upon them. The moment that they would be out of the reach of maternal expectation was closing in fast and Hecate’s skin tingled with the thought of it._

_It was time to go down. Her heart skipped a beat at the realization. She swallowed and gathered all of her strength. Mustering all her magic to demonstrate her latest skill, she felt herself disappear from her bedroom and appear in a shimmer of silver and skin in the middle of the hall._

_The already assembled guests stared at her in appreciation. She thought she heard an audible “wow” as she momentarily held all eyes in the room until they inevitably drifted to watch the successive entrances._

_One of those newly gracing the hall was Pippa, dressed in a gown so golden that it appeared that she was dripping in honey._

_Their eyes met as Pippa descended the staircase. Immediately, Pippa rushed towards her and clasped her hands._

_“Look at you,” Pippa exclaimed breathlessly. “You look… wow.”_

_Hecate blushed and looked down shyly for a moment. “You look incredible, as always,” she said._

_“Thank you,” Pippa said. Hecate’s heart pounded as they basked in each other, drinking in the spectacles that they’d each created._

_However, it wasn’t long before the inevitable onslaught of Pippa’s friends descended upon them._

_“Pippa!” They all seemed to exclaim her name at once with shrieking compliments over each other’s dresses and hair._

_“Hecate, you look wonderful,” even Charlotte had to admit. Hecate’s appearance seemed to buy her some temporary inclusion into the group and they more willingly than usual brought her into their squealing chatter. However, regardless of their slightly better intentions towards her, they still managed to simultaneously bore Hecate and grate on her every nerve._

_She continuously glanced sideways at Pippa, willing her to make some sort of separation, but Pippa only met Hecate’s eyes once with a blank expression and returned to the conversation._

_When she could no longer stand to stay silent, nodding emptily at this group of girls, she extricated herself and walked determinedly away. She sighed, silently begging Pippa to follow her, to catch up with her, anything, once she was able to get away._

_Hecate sat alone at one of the many deserted tables strewn throughout the hall. Her face looked glum and disinterested as she watched the nervous adolescents congregate into small groups, having conversations that not even the people speaking seemed to care about very much. Hecate grimaced at the sea of taffeta and hormones._

_“I wanted to tell you earlier, you look lovely dear,” the young Miss Alchemy said from behind Hecate as she took the seat beside her._

_“Thank you,” Hecate replied with a forced smile._

_“So I’ve heard that you’ve a job lined up in London after graduation?” Miss Alchemy inquired._

_“Yes, it’s just an assistantship, but I think it will be a good experience. Pippa found a job in the city as well and we’ve decided to take a flat together.” Hecate warmed at the thought._

_“Oh, how lovely. So good that you two will stay close even after graduation. I hardly recognize one of you without the other,” the teacher said, laughing jovially. Hecate smiled and the two sat in silence for a moment._

_The band began to play a slow, sappy ballad and countless couples flocked eagerly to the center of the dance floor. Hecate searched to meet Pippa’s eyes in the crowd. She imagined Pippa crossing the room and grabbing her hand in a proud act of demonstration._

_Pippa didn’t turn to her, even though Hecate thought she must have felt the desperate glance burning holes into her golden dress._

_Hecate sunk down in her chair as she nervously wrung her hands on the table._

_“Hecate,” Eugenie Bloodworth said approaching her. “Would you like to dance?”_

_“I’d love to,” Hecate said definitively, without a moment’s hesitation and she rose to take the hand that was offered to her._

_“You look absolutely stunning in that dress, it really suits you,” Eugenie said as they slid onto the dance floor._

_Hecate couldn’t tell whether Pippa was watching them or not, but desperately hoped that she was and that she felt it deeply._

***

The Present

Hecate’s class now had a free period to rest and catch their breath before the rest of the day’s activities commenced. Desperately needing a break of her own, Hecate retreated to the abandoned teacher’s lounge where some modicum of peace could be found. With a flick of her wrist, her mother’s journal appeared in the empty air before her, opened to the page upon which she had left it this morning. 

Normally, Hecate wouldn’t have brought something so personal to the lounge but over the past few days, all other reading had gone out the window. The journals were all she was interested in and she continuously thought of finding time for them. She let the book hover just above her lap as she began to read. 

Not ten minutes later, Ada walked in as silent as a cat. “Hello, Hecate.”

Hecate jumped at her name, “Oh. Ada, I didn’t hear you come in.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,” Ada apologized, coming closer to join Hecate on the chaise. “What are you reading that has you so engrossed.”

Hecate shut the book to show Ada the cover. “It’s one of my mother’s journals actually.”

Ada smiled at the sight of the book she had seen Hecate trace her fingers over so delicately only days before. “I was going to ask you if you had delved any deeper into them, but I didn’t want you to think that I was prying,” Ada said, always conscious of allowing Hecate her privacy in more matters than just this one. 

Hecate furrowed her eyebrows, momentarily affronted. “I would never think that Ada. You can always ask me whatever you like,” Hecate said. She knew full well that she appeared very closed-off to Ada, it wasn’t intentional, just a long-standing habit of hers. As anyone with a bittersweet past knows, it’s best to keep your memories out of reach or you end up stumbling over them at the most inopportune times.

“Noted. So, how is it then? Are you enjoying them so far?” Ada asked. 

“They’re fascinating actually. It’s a mixture of her personal anecdotes and essays about her practice, her theories. It’s all a bit disorganized actually...” Hecate trailed off. Ada looked at her with kind encouragement so she continued. “She had this fascination with the origins of magic and when it all began. Assuming that we all had some common ancestors, she wanted to figure out how one subset of the population was endowed with these abilities while others were left behind. She was ferreting out these ancient texts, trying to get as far back as she could to shed some light on it all,” Hecate said, a hesitant excitement building in her voice. Ada perked up with interest as well, not only at the subject matter but at the fire igniting in Hecate’s eyes as she spoke about it. 

“Listen to this,” Hecate said and began to read a passage she had marked from earlier in the book. “Every witch worth her broom knows that what we call magic alone is not enough to get anything done. Our society has intensive schools for this very reason. To have the right blood is meaningless if you don’t know how to focus intentions, to mix the proper herbs, to ask for the proper guidance. Now, we collectively mock the non-magical world for its attempts to mimic what we do. But when you watch them, you realize that their practices are not so different from our own. They know the thing is to direct their will, they know all about herbs, and they call upon elements and energies for assistance. All they lack is that one thing that is out of their control: magical blood. But with the rest, they are so close. Which makes you wonder what they are truly capable of. If all this information is shared, seemingly passed down from some common history, why can we not form a common future? What is to stop us from uniting our societies in strength instead of secluding ours in the way that we do? It is the only answer to stop our number from dwindling as they inevitably will. We must unite. We simply must get over our prejudices and unite, for our own sake if not for theirs.”

Hecate raised her eyes to Ada’s and saw that her friend was watching her with rapt attention.

“Goodness, how interesting. And how passionate her writing is,” Ada reflected. “I’d be very interested to hear what else she has to say, especially about her time spent in the non-magical world. You said she was making a living selling simple potions and herbal remedies?” Ada asked, eyes fixed on Hecate’s face. 

“Yes, she was. She goes into that a little here. Apparently she was very involved with the so-called ‘magical’ community in London,” Hecate’s face scrunching slightly in habitual distaste for the new age culture. “I’d be happy to tell you all about it the more that I read, or let you read them yourself if you like,” Hecate offered casually. Hecate had become so invested in the journals as of late and Ada’s kind interest was comforting in a way that made her want to share every word.

Ada flushed and her eyes twinkled with affection at the thought of Hecate offering up something so personal to her without even a moment’s hesitation. “I would love that, Hecate.”

A moment of comfortable, warm silence hung in the air before Hecate realized that she had stayed in the lounge far longer than she intended. She checked her pocket watch. “I suppose we really should get back. The girls should be starting their afternoon lessons soon.”

“Yes,” Ada said absently, as they rose to leave. “I suppose we should.”

“I’ll just pop these back to my office and I’ll be right there,” Hecate said.

Hecate sent her books flying back to her desk and prepared to follow Ada out the door when she saw it swing open once again.

“Miss Hardbroom,” Miss Westsar said as she entered the teacher’s lounge moments after Ada’s departure.

“Oh, Miss Weststar, do you need anything?” Hecate said, suddenly shaken from her thoughts.

“No, I just came in for a bit of a breather before the afternoon begins,” Miss Weststar said as she took a seat across from Hecate. “I’ve never taught children before. It’s a bit more demanding than adult witches.”

Hecate nodded. “I suppose that’s probably true. I, on the other hand, have never taught adults so I cannot compare.”

Miss Weststar shrugged. “They each have their own challenges I suppose, but at least with adults, you don’t have the added charge of being their disciplinarian.. Trying to keep them on task, or prevent them from fighting with each other. At least, not usually,” she said with a smirk.

Hecate winced at the memory of Ethel and Amanda’s fight this morning. “I know that I already apologized, but I’m so sorry for how this morning got started. I knew they would be trouble, I should have followed my instincts and kept a better eye on them.”

“Don’t worry yourself about it, Miss Hardbroom. It might not be how I wanted to start the day, but I survived and I think we can all move past it,” Miss Weststar said with a half-cocked smile. She considered Hecate for a moment and said “And I don’t think Ada will enjoy the day any less for its bumpy start, do you?” She raised her eyebrow significantly at Hecate.

Hecate raised her eyes to Miss Weststar, surprised that she would address her concerns over Ada when Hecate herself hadn’t given any indication that that was her worry. Hecate regarded Miss Weststar carefully. Her face was kind and mellow, yet her eyes shone with a sharp, intense intellect that seemed to absorb every detail of those around her. Hecate sighed. “No, I don’t suppose it will,” she admitted. She thought fondly of Ada’s smile at dinner last night. It would take more than an errant firework to dampen that enthusiasm. 

“I have a feeling that barring an actual death in your seminar, Ada would find a way to consider the day a success,” Hecate said. 

Lydia laughed softly in agreement. “Ada is uniquely optimistic that way,” she said.

Hecate nodded and paused in thought. “That unshakeable will to enjoy whatever is around her is so…” she paused and bit her lip, smiling slightly, “admirable.”

“Yes… admirable,” Lydia said quietly, her steady eyes fixed on Hecate, considering her in deep thought. Abruptly, she checked her watch and said, “Well, I really must get back. Thank you for the chat, Miss Hardbroom.”

Hecate nodded and watched Lydia Weststar disappear out of the room. She felt a bit puzzled by the interaction. Although everything about their exchange was completely innocuous, something about Miss Weststar’s piercing gaze made you think she was getting more out of the conversation than you were choosing to say. Hecate could understand why people said she was some sort of empath, perhaps there was something to it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! [Follow me on Tumblr](https://belladonnainbloom.tumblr.com/)


	8. What we wish for and what is

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the past, tensions rise over the holidays as Hecate becomes frustrated with Pippa's continued insistence on secrecy.  
> Meanwhile, in the present, the staff make the most of their last night under the same roof.

The Past, London, Hecate age 19

_Nearly six months had passed since graduation. Six months of a new city to get lost in, new jobs to worry over and a flat too small to share. It had all flown by in a blink of hectic happiness and unavoidable stress. How promises have a way of being tossed aside and trodden upon in the bustle of a busy life._

_Now, the holidays rushed upon them like a test of the greatest magnitude. Pippa had of course extended an invitation to spend Christmas with her family, but under similar conditions as every previous family visit had been._

_“I won’t, Pippa. I’m tired of sneaking into your bedroom at night, rumpling my sheets in the morning so your mother won’t suspect a thing. Just tell her the truth, once and for all,” Hecate said, gesturing emphatically._

_“I can’t Hecate, you know how Mama will react,” Pippa said in a frustrated voice._

_“But what does it matter, Pippa? You’re an adult now, who cares if she disapproves?” Hecate said quietly, trying to maintain a grip on her temper._

_“It’s not that I care exactly. But you know I’m still dependent on her, financially if nothing else,” Pippa said, getting more exasperated with every word. She clearly didn’t want to explain herself. Hecate knew what she would say anyway, it would be the same reasons as always: how every aspect of her life, her future as head of the school was inextricably tied up in her mother’s good will._

_“But we have our own money now, even if it’s not much, besides she wouldn’t disinherit you,” Hecate said, her own voice rising with annoyance._

_“I don’t see why not, you know how vengeful she can be,” PIppa said._

_“She dislikes me, certainly that’s true. Obviously I’m not the witch she would choose for you, but I hardly think she hates me enough to lose her only daughter over it. For god’s sake, she already knows we’re living together and besides the odd snide comment here and there, she hasn’t done anything.” Hecate said. Pippa remained silent, so Hecate continued._

_“Not to mention that she’s not stupid. She would never risk the inevitable scandal of a falling out with you. Her entire life is devoted to maintaining the image of her school and her family. She wouldn’t throw all of that away because of this. Most likely, she would feign acceptance and try to break us up behind the scenes with some scheme that she thought very clever,” Hecate concluded._

_“And you’d want to open yourself up to that, her schemes and cruelty? Even though as we live in obscurity, we live in peace,” Pippa said with emotion clawing at her throat._

_“So what exactly is your plan Pippa? That we live in secret forever as conspicuously close best friends?” Hecate spat bitterly._

_“No. Not forever,” Pippa said pleadingly. “Just not now. The last thing I want to do is turn this into some huge spectacle over the holidays. Everything has changed so much these last few months, can’t we wait just a little while longer before we add a new dose of drama to our lives?”_

_“I don’t know Pippa…” Hecate said, utterly exhausted by the conversation at this point. She looked at Pippa’s beseeching expression and her resolve began to crumble. “Alright, fine. We’ll put it off.”_

_Pippa seemed satisfied with Hecate’s acquiescence. “Thank you, Hecate. I knew you’d understand,” she said._

_Hecate only stared back at her, feeling like words were ceasing to satisfy in a situation that demanded action._

***

The Present

Ada sat contentedly by the fire, thinking back on the day. She had been chatting with Lydia for hours now, catching up and laughing over the mishaps of the afternoon. 

“Well, I hope you didn’t find your school diminished now that you’re seeing it again through the eyes of an adult,” Ada said, thinking of how often it happens that what seems impressive in youth can appear small and shabby as we grow. 

“No, not at all. If anything, it seems more interesting here now than when I was a student,” Lydia said. “You have a fascinating staff.”

“I suppose that I do,” Ada said with a chuckle.

“Which reminds me what I’ve been wanting to ask all day,” Lydia said putting down her teacup and eyeing Ada deviously. “So, you and your deputy head, Miss Hardbroom. Is there,” she wiggled her fingers suggestively, “something going on between you two?”

“What? No of course not,” Ada said, a blush rising to her cheeks.

“Why ‘ _of course’_ not?” Lydia asked inquisitively.

“Oh. Umm no reason,” Ada paused. “I suppose not ‘of course’, just ‘not’,” Ada said slightly flustered. “Why? Did someone say that there was?”

“No. It just seemed like there was something there is all,” Lydia said, shrugging. “Of course, there’s a lot of confusing energy around Miss Hardbroom… and you… and...” she stopped abruptly. “Well, it’s confusing. I’m sorry, Ada, clearly I was wrong. Anyway, I shouldn’t be prying like this, it’s none of my business. It’s not very polite of me,” she said, turning to pour herself more tea.

“No, no. Don’t apologize,” Ada insisted, regaining her equilibrium. “You’re perfectly free to be as nosey as you like, and you never were very good at being polite.” 

Lydia laughed but she did not take up the conversation again. She mused over her tea silently, stirring the spoon absently with a single finger hovering above it. 

Ada sat in silence as well, but her mind was working in an anxious fervor. What did Lydia mean when she said she thought there was something there? Did she simply sense Ada’s own lingering crush, or did she sense something reciprocated? If she trusted anyone’s instincts when it came to energy and emotions, it was Lydia. Even as a child, she was highly perceptive. Nothing could be hidden from her sensitive nerves and probing eyes. As an adult, it only seemed that her perception had become more refined, more purposeful and better handled than such sensitivity could ever be by a child. 

And what had she meant by saying the energy around Miss Hardbroom was ‘confusing’? And why had she stopped so abruptly?

A part of Ada wanted to ask for clarification, but she feared the desperation that would drip from her voice when asking such a question. It sounded too horrifically childish to ask whether Lydia thought Hecate fancied her too. No, she wouldn’t ask it. But the thought of it filled her with a nervous, hopeful feeling that she just couldn’t suppress. 

***

Hecate sat at her desk, trying to concentrate on her reading instead of the chaotic events of the past twenty-four hours. Soon, she was roused, however, by the softest knock at her door. It was so quiet as to be barely audible, but it shocked her body into motion like the loudest crack of thunder. 

“I wasn’t sure that I would see you two days in a row,” Hecate said as she opened the door, sure of who it was before she even saw her face. Pippa slid in and pressed herself to the door as she shut it behind her.

“You know that I can’t keep away from you, not when you’re only a room away and I can still smell your magic on my skin,” Pippa whispered in a sultry tone. 

Hecate looked her up and down; Pippa seemed different from last night. Her body was shivering with longing, her eyes pleaded for Hecate’s touch, begging for her to close the distance between them with a desperate kiss. 

Hecate held her eye contact, hard and unyielding as she hovered her lips tantalizingly out of reach. She reached out a delicate, pale hand to the tie of Pippa’s robe, which was made of a lush, vibrant magenta silk. Hecate grasped the cord and pulled it free of the knot, watching the luscious fabric part to unwrap Pippa’s awaiting body.

Pippa breathed deeply, her chest rising in anticipation. She grasped at Hecate’s face as if to kiss her, but Hecate put one finger to Pippa’s lips, pushed her chin to the side and began to kiss her neck.

Pippa sighed, her aching body pushing into the door for support. Hecate took her time, kissing down Pippa’s breasts and stomach until she was on her knees, sliding Pippa’s thighs apart and parting her lips with her tongue. 

Pippa gasped at the first brush of Hecate’s mouth against her clit. She looked down to meet Hecate’s still unflinching gaze, but she couldn’t hold it. Too soon her lids were fluttering closed and her mouth was falling open of its own volition.

Hecate’s tongue wound its way over Pippa’s lips in slow, probing patterns as if claiming the last drops of honey from the jar. Every inch of Pippa was quivering as the tension built inside of her, clawing at her mind. Her knees were weak, threatening to fail to support her at any moment. But Hecate’s grasp on her hips was firm, steadying the involuntary shake of Pippa’s body against the door behind her. 

All at once, the clawing at Pippa’s mind won out and she fell into euphoric oblivion. She heard a cry from her throat that she did not choose to release, and she no longer knew whether her body held her upright any longer for she couldn’t feel her legs. She couldn’t feel anything but the ecstatic bliss pounding through her, through her mind, through her being.

She leaned against the door, panting, too weak to support herself and too paralyzed to collapse. Hecate rose and pulled Pippa to her full height. With a slow much-awaited kiss on the lips, Hecate moved them to the bed and pulled Pippa on top of her to return the favor. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! [Follow me on Tumblr](https://belladonnainbloom.tumblr.com/)


	9. How terrible, how brief

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the past, Hecate makes a fateful choice that shapes the decades ahead of her.  
> Meanwhile, in the present, she wonders if anything has truly changed in those many passing years.

The Past, London, Hecate age 20

_Nearly a year to the day since they had first moved in, Hecate’s trunks sat packed and stacked in the corner by the door to the flat. Pippa would be waiting for her at their broomstick water -skiing tournament, one of their friendly little activities, Pippa’s idea, of course._

_At first, Hecate had enjoyed it, Pippa dragging her out into all of her social affairs, all calculated to know the right people and have the right influence. It made her feel wanted, as if she was a real part of Pippa’s life. ‘Those two are inseparable, practically sisters,’ everyone said. ‘Not that anyone would mistake them as sisters’ they would always add, eyeing Hecate’s dark hair and prematurely stern gaze with suspicion._

_But now Hecate thought of Pippa’s smile turned slightly panicked, searching for her in the crowd and it made her lips curl with a vicious satisfaction_

_She knew she shouldn’t simply leave like this, without saying a word. Perhaps she was being a coward, she thought. But coward or not she couldn’t face the conversation they would have._

_Whether she said it again or not, Pippa knew why she was leaving. They’d had the fight too many times for her to feign ignorance._

_‘Pippa, don’t you think that you’re running out of excuses? Can’t you just grow a backbone and own up to us? How do you think it makes me feel that you want a spotlight on every part of your life except this?’’ She had asked in a multitude of variations over the months._

_From Pippa there was always some reason for postponement because of her mother or her schedule or something equally unconvincing. At this point, Hecate had no choice but to feel that if Pippa wanted their relationship to be public, it would be by now._

_Hecate truly didn’t think she had it in her to have the same argument yet another time, and she feared how it would turn out. She feared Pippa’s tear-stained face convincing her to stay. And, perhaps far more, she feared Pippa staring at her with dry eyes agreeing that it was for the best._

_No, she thought selfishly, the conversation was unnecessary because she had already made up her mind and even if she could be swayed, she didn’t want to be._

_She wondered if Pippa would try to contact her. She wasn’t leaving an address but she wouldn’t be hard to find. Her family already knew that she had accepted a job in France, assistant to a commercial potions mistress. Pippa didn’t even know that she’d applied_

_Hecate honestly doubted that Pippa would come after her. As the months passed, Hecate came to believe that the relationship was growing just as tiresome for Pippa as it was for herself. Once free, Pippa would surround herself with her barely-distinguishable blondes, all more ‘suitable’ matches for her public face, no doubt. Most likely, she’d be relieved to finally lose the dark shadow trailing at her heels._

_So no, Hecate didn’t expect Pippa to search her out, which was better. It was inevitable that they would meet in the future, surely, but she wouldn’t worry about that today._

_With a determined sigh, she packed up the last of her effects into her handbag and sent her trunks ahead of her to their new home. She opened the door to leave, but she paused on the threshold. She couldn’t help looking back for one more nostalgic glance._

_With a flick of her black-taloned hand, she conjured a purple flower onto her now empty writing desk and closed the door behind her, venturing out onto the London street._

***

The Present

Pippa stretched and sighed decidedly. “I’m going to head back to my room, she said.

A rush of cool air hit Hecate’s skin as Pippa pulled back the covers. She watched as Pippa swung her legs over the side of the bed and slipped her robe over her shoulders. 

Hecate’s blood was still pumping full of the optimistic bliss that good sex always brings, fleeting though the feeling may be. She thought that Pippa looked incredibly pretty standing before her, silhouetted in the low lamplight. 

“You don’t have to go, you know,” Hecate said in a sweet voice. Stretching out one hand and laying it temptingly over Pippa’s own. 

Pippa looked at the hand and then at Hecate’s face which was softened immeasurably by her drowsy eyes and half-smile. “I think I should,” Pippa said in the same placating tone that all abandoning lovers use when they already have one foot over their brooms. “Someone might come looking for me. If I’m gone two nights in a row, they might start to suspect something,” she said, shrugging her shoulders. 

“Does it really matter if they do?” Hecate said, imagining that she could certainly handle any gauche question that Miss Drill might happen to throw at her over breakfast. 

“I just want to avoid an awkward conversation,” Pippa said matter-of-factly. 

When Pippa had finished tying her robe and pulling back her hair, she turned back to Hecate. “These past two days were delicious though,” Pippa said with a grin.

“They really were,” Hecate said, leaning back in thought. “If you like, you don’t have to wait until the next school event to come back,” Hecate said as she pulled the sheet around herself and perched herself on her elbow. “The castle’s nearly empty over the winter holiday. We’d have all day… and all night without any fear of interruption.”

“Well, perhaps,” Pippa said as she smiled noncommittally and turned towards the door to leave. 

Hecate’s face fell at the cool dismissal, bliss dissolving from her body as quickly and as violently as dew burns from leaves at the first rays of sun. 

Pippa’s hand was at the doorknob, but there was something in Hecate’s tone, something in that look in her eye that made Pippa uncomfortable. This wasn’t the same simple lust that she had seen yesterday. This look seemed to hold a deeper meaning that she didn’t want to encourage. She had started to close up instinctively as soon as she saw that familiar softness develop in Hecate’s eyes. 

Pippa turned back to Hecate, looking slightly pained. “Hecate, I think that I need to say something… make something clear… that I had thought or rather, I assumed was already implied.” Pippa said, cringing at her own awkwardness and the impatient look on Hecate’s face as she tried to follow the meandering sentence. 

She took a breath and decided to get to the point. “Over these past two years, I’ve been so glad that we’ve renewed our friendship. We were always such good friends. And this,” she paused and smiled. “Well, we were always very good at this. But I don’t want to try being a couple again.”

“Ah,” Hecate said, her mouth taking on the form of a frown. 

“I just want to make sure that we’re on the same page,” Pippa continued.

Hecate nodded slowly, “Of course,” she said, not quite able to look Pippa in the face. 

She felt as if Pippa had slapped her. She wasn’t sure that recoupling was something she had suggested, or even wanted for that matter. Well, perhaps it had been, at least in the befuddling fog of midnight. It had felt too much like old times, waiting for Pippa to wander through her door in the darkness… Perhaps that had been what her coaxing had been intimating, but it still had never been said. 

So, now it still felt like old times, a confusing rejection in the middle of the night as Pippa wanders out into the same darkness from which she appeared.

“I hope you understand,” Pippa said, trying to meet Hecate’s gaze.

Anger bubbled within Hecate’s skin, coaxing open never-healed wounds of the past. “Oh, I understand,” Hecate said, bitterness creeping into her throat. “Even after all these years, you still don’t think I’m good enough for you, do you?” Hecate said quietly in a voice full of long-held rage. 

“I didn’t say that. I’ve never said that” Pippa said emphatically.

“No, of course not. You never say it, not in so many words. That might ruin your reputation of being so ‘nice’,” Hecate spat, her lips curling with distaste. 

“That’s not fair,” Pippa said, her voice rising. 

“Isn’t it? Because that’s certainly how it seems. You’re happy with me as long as all we are is stolen kisses in the shadows, but the minute that someone might find out about us, the second you might have to declare it aloud… you panic as if it would be the most mortifying thing in the world. It’s been the same since we were teenagers and we couldn’t so much as dance together for fear of what your mother might say,” Hecate said.

“Please Hecate, let’s not go delving into the past again. The last thing I want is to make this about our mothers,” Pippa said and sighed exasperatedly. “None of that matters now.”

“Well, that’s one more place where we differ Pippa. I think that it clearly matters very much,” Hecate said, her voice harsh and cold.

“What do you mean?” Pippa said furrowing her eyebrows. 

Hecate could hold in her feelings no longer, suddenly, they all came spilling out. “You think you’re so liberal-minded, certainly nothing like your stodgy, conservative parents because you would lower yourself to be friends with me, or because you’ll make your school progressive and co-ed. But you still see yourself as better than. You just want to make your entrance and be the marvelous, benevolent Pippa Pentangle. Just like your mother, it’s all about the image you put forth. They might be two different images, but I never fit into either one of them,” Hecate snarled in a whisper so as not to draw any unwanted attention. 

“Hecate, you don’t get it,” Pippa said, shutting her eyes and rubbing her forehead in frustration. “It’s not about image or status or our mothers, it’s about us. We’re complete opposites, which is fine in a friend, and certainly makes for wonderful chemistry, but it’s hardly the making of a stable partnership. What could we ever agree upon?”

Hecate sighed deeply. The rage had subsided into a multitude of feelings that were vague and messy. “You’re right, Pippa. We are polar opposites. I’ll never be like you and you can’t accept anyone who doesn’t think like you without a snide comment and a giggle at their expense.” She paused. “And well, I suppose, maybe I can’t either. Regardless, we’re never going to live up to each other’s expectations and it’s too exhausting to keep trying,” Hecate said in a grave tone of finality. 

Pippa stared at her, speechless for a moment before recollecting herself and nodding curtly as she turned, walking quickly out the door. 

Hecate stared at the spot where Pippa had stood only seconds before, blood pounding in her temples. She wasn’t sure what she was feeling, but in this moment, it was far too much to bear. She pushed it all back, willing it away and laid down to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! [Follow me on Tumblr](https://belladonnainbloom.tumblr.com/)


	10. All we know, all we need

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day of departure has arrived and the visiting schools prepare to leave. Hecate watches them depart with a bittersweet heart, taking unexpected comfort from the company of a friend.

The Present, the day of departure

Hecate stood alone, composing herself before going back into the halls for breakfast and the departure of the schools. Her mind felt stunted and slow after a fitful night’s sleep and she struggled to clear it enough to face speaking to anyone with any kind of sense. As it was, the choice to do so was made for her when she heard the door behind her creak open.

“Miss Hardbroom?” Lydia Weststar said as she entered the teacher’s lounge. “I just wanted to say goodbye before I left and to thank you for all your help in organizing the day, it’s much appreciated.”

“Of course, Miss Weststar. I’m just glad that it went so well... after the initial hurdles, I mean,” Hecate said. “I do hope that we meet again.”

“I’m sure our paths will cross again soon enough. Ada and I don’t plan to lose touch again and you two are so... wonderfully close,” Lydia trailed off, watching Hecate’s eyes closely.

Hecate looked at her, puzzled at Lydia’s tone of voice. “Yes, we have become very dear friends over the years,” Hecate ventured. 

Lydia nodded. “Well, I’ve had many a friend who I’m sure didn’t speak nearly as highly of me as Ada does of you, or you of her for that matter.” She said with a significant look. 

Once again, Hecate felt as if she didn’t truly understand the conversation at hand, but she had gotten far too little sleep over the past couple days to linger on it too long.

***

The girls lined up outside Cackle’s Academy in a crooked mass, this time to watch the two schools depart. The mood was much more serene than it had been two days before. It seemed as though all the excitement had been spent and exhausted and there was simply nothing left to give. 

The occasional pair hugged goodbye to mark the end of their hastily made friendships, promising in vain that they wouldn’t be just as hastily forgotten. The rest stood quietly in the grey morning air and waited to be allowed back inside the castle’s warm embrace. 

Hecate stood near the castle entrance, watching the display with disinterested gloom. 

“Look on the bright side, Enid,” came Amanda’s cutting voice through the lingering fog. “If you do get chucked out of here, you might get sent to Pentangle’s next and it would be just like old times.”

“Tempting,” said Enid, “but I think I’m going to try to stick around here for awhile.”

“Suit yourself,” Amanda shrugged, “See you around then!” she called as she joined the Pentangle’s students who stood ready to depart. 

Hecate rolled her eyes at the head-strong girl. She had yet to deal with Ethel and the other girls, and as much as she wanted them to be punished for their actions, she hardly had the energy to do so. 

“Ah, Hecate,” Miss Alchemy said, bringing Hecate’s attention back to the present. “I meant what I said, I would love for you to drop by the school sometime. I’ve already told Pippa the same thing,” she said, clasping Hecate on the arm.

Hecate did her best to appear enthusiastic despite her brooding mood. “I would like to very much. Perhaps over the summer holiday?”

“Sounds wonderful. Well, we’ll all coordinate then. It was lovely to see you again dear,” she said, walking away to shoo her meandering students into formation. 

“You too,” Hecate said softly, inwardly wincing at the thought of coordinating with Pippa any such visit. 

Not twenty feet ahead of her, Pippa was saying goodbye to Ada and presumably expressing all the customary declarations of gratitude. Before she turned to leave, Pippa paused to look at Hecate as if debating whether or not to say goodbye. Apparently thinking better of it, she merely nodded her head in acknowledgment and departed. 

Hecate watched the multitude of brooms fly off into the sky, each group going their separate ways. The Cackles girls shifted and trod happily back into the castle to laze the rest of their Saturday away as they saw fit. Ada stood still on the lawn, watching the guests grow smaller in the distance. 

Hecate slid up behind her silently. “Well, I think we can call that a success. Perhaps, not an unmitigated one, but a success nonetheless.” Hecate smiled down at her friend. 

Ada looked up, thoughts broken from her musings and smiled a twinkling smile. “I quite agree, Hecate. It was lovely to have all those girls here under my roof. It really was exactly what I wanted. Thank you for everything you did to make it happen, even though I know you were against it in the beginning.”

“Well, you know I never like to add any extra chaos to this place, but sometimes it’s worth it,” Hecate said kindly. Looking at the happiness and satisfaction it had clearly brought Ada, she couldn’t deny it being worthwhile, no matter what consequences the event had brought along with it. 

“Well,” Ada began, clapping her hands together as if to snap herself back into the present moment. “Come inside, Hecate. There’s a warm fire and a pot of tea with our names on it.”

“Thank you for the offer Ada but I need a little fresh air before I go back inside. Perhaps later,” Hecate said, turning away from Ada and towards the grounds of the school. Once out of sight, she sighed deeply and felt the melancholy she had been resisting rise to the surface. She walked on silently, trying to parse the recent past from the distant, and finding she hardly knew where one ended and the other began. 

An eerie gloom hung over the castle; the air was misty and heavy like an early morning that hasn’t shaken the sleep out of its eyes although it was nearly midday. The oppressive dampness along with natural fatigue from the proceeding days had coaxed everyone deeper inside the fire-lit castle with an all too seductive whisper. 

However bleak, Hecate found the desolate silence to be a comfort. The last thing she wanted to hear was the chattering sounds of the girls roaming the grounds. 

***

Ada too had found the misty morning inviting in its way and decided to take a quick walk before settling in. She needed to clear her mind of the hyper chatter left over from the newly-departed full house.

As she rounded one corner of the castle, she saw Hecate sitting alone and pensive on the bench nestled in the rose garden. She was about to call out to her as she normally would have, but something in Hecate’s demeanor stopped her. 

Ada paused and watched for a moment. Hecate had two roses in her hands; she was winding the stems together and then letting them spin themselves apart. It appeared to be absent-minded, for her eyes stared into the distance and her thoughts seemed far away.

Ada approached her slowly, unsure if she was doing the right thing by disturbing her solitude. “Good morning, Hecate,” she said. Hecate raised her head and as she did so, Ada could see a single tear slide down her cheek.

As soon as they made eye contact, Ada felt terrible for interrupting whatever this was. She couldn’t tell if it would be more tactful to pretend that she hadn’t seen the tear at all or to ask her friend what was wrong. 

“Ada,” Hecate said in a voice straining to conceal its emotion. She turned her head away, hastily wiping the tear from her cheek and letting the roses fall to the ground beneath her. 

“I was just out for a stroll, taking in a bit of cool air,” Ada’s voice trailed off as she approached Hecate in a forced casual demeanor. “Well, I’ll carry on then, I don’t want to disturb you,” she said amiably. 

“Don’t apologize, Ada. If i was looking for privacy, I’d hardly be in such a public place. Sit.” Hecate said.

It was a command, not an offer, so Ada dutifully sat down on the garden bench. They sat in silence for a few minutes, unsure how to fill it. 

Hecate rubbed at her eyes self-consciously, as if she could erase her already fallen tears from view. Ada pulled a mauve handkerchief from her pocket and handed it to Hecate without a word. Hecate took it and dabbed her eyes dry. “Thank you,” she said quietly.

Ada’s instincts told her to let the silence lie undisturbed, but she just couldn’t help asking the question bubbling in her throat. Perhaps Lydia had been a bad influence on her, she thought. “Excuse me for bringing it up, but I couldn’t help noticing that there was a great deal of coldness between you and Pippa this morning,” Ada began. Hecate smiled humorlessly and exhaled sharply in a wry sort of laugh. 

“Has something happened between you two? It seemed like you had had some kind of lover’s spat,” Ada said, immediately putting her fingers to her lips, embarrassed by her accidental phrasing.

Hecate whipped her head sharply to meet Ada’s gaze. In a second, her wave of instinctual annoyance had subsided. She couldn’t be mad or offended when looking into Ada’s sweet, caring eyes. She sighed and nodded slowly, “I suppose you could call it that,” she said. 

“I’m sorry to hear that, dear,” Ada said with a kind smile, carefully not commenting on this quasi-admission. 

“I should have known that you knew,” Hecate said. 

“Suspected, really. Nothing more,” Ada paused. “It’s gratifying to know that I was right though, and that you two are a couple after all,” Ada said lightly, thinking that gratifying wasn’t exactly an honest summary of her reaction.

Hecate pursed her lips and said curtly, “Were. Past-tense. Whatever it was.”

Ada smiled encouragingly, “Don’t be so sure, Hecate. These things blow over. In a couple of days, I’m sure you’ll both cool off and it will all be back to normal.”

“While I appreciate your attempts to console me, Ada, it’s really not like that. First of all, I was the one who ended it and second of all, I would consider it a great show of weakness on my part if I ever fell into her trap again,” Hecate took a breath. “Despite how it may look, I’m hardly mourning the loss of Pippa in my life.”

Ada perked up a little in spite of herself. It filled her with a kind of hope to hear Hecate talk with such finality about her relationship with Pippa. But she reminded herself how she had found Hecate and she raised her eyebrows slightly. “Are you sure, Hecate? You certainly seemed like a woman lost in the perils of love only a minute before.”

Hecate shook her head. “It’s not like that, really. I’m not _in love_ with Pippa. Not now, at least. Now, it’s not so much love as it is,” Hecate paused “the memory of it, I suppose… and the promise that the past could rewrite itself, a hollow promise at best.”

“Ah,” Ada said, adjusting the glasses on the brim of her nose. “Unfortunately, you usually find that everything changes, but nothing ever does,” she concluded with a melancholic half-smile. 

“How unfortunately true,” Hecate said, pursing her lips. “What really upsets me about this whole thing,” she continued, “is what I let her do to me. No matter my intentions, when she comes into the picture, suddenly I’m sixteen again, sneaking into her bedroom in the dead of night.” 

“Goodness,” Ada said, caught off-guard by this uncharacteristic personal candor. 

Hecate only raised her eyebrows in response. “Or worse, I’m twelve years old, trailing at Pippa’s heels.” She prodded at the memories gently as if they were bombs that might explode at any moment. 

She bit at her lips to hold it all back. She pulled another rose from the vine before her and held it in her hands, staring into its delicate encircling labyrinth of petals.

Ada’s heart ached to see Hecate this way. She herself knew what it was like to feel caught in a past self; it was how she felt every time her sister made contact. “My dear,” she said cautiously, “you deserve far better than the likes of Pippa Pentangle.”

Hecate scoffed softly. “I’m not sure most people would agree. Most people seemed to think I was uncommonly lucky to get her at all, being as I was, the gangly girl dressed all in black.”

“You always did look stunning in black,” Ada said and placed her hand onto Hecate’s. 

Hecate raised her eyes to her friend’s and smiled out of pure surprise. “That’s very sweet of you to say Ada, thank you,” Ada only held her gaze firmly in response. There was something more behind the glance, like there was something that Ada wasn’t saying. It was almost probing in its intensity, as if she was trying to read something in Hecate’s eyes that she couldn’t quite decipher.

The moment passed and the two women fell into idle chatter about the roses, but later that evening, Hecate would return to that moment. She couldn’t get it out of her mind, that glance of Ada’s, and what she was trying to say with it. 

***

As the day progressed, a light gray gloom had settled around Hecate. She wasn’t exactly upset anymore, but she couldn’t make up her mind to be anything else either. 

She looked at her mother’s journal sitting on her desk. In this moment, she couldn’t bear the thought of opening it. 

A familiar firm knock roused her and she turned to see Ada in her doorway. 

“May I come in? I don’t mean to disturb you but I thought I’d drop this off as I was passing by. Just the summary of the girls’ assignments from the weekend, for reference.”

Ada smiled candidly but Hecate could see from the searching expression on her face that she was checking for worry lines and signs of errant tears. The paperwork in her hands was nothing more than a convenient charade. 

Hecate cocked her eyebrow as she took the papers from Ada’s hand. She flipped through them absently and said, “I’m aware that you’ve come here to check up on me, Ada, and I appreciate it. Truly, I do. But I’m alright, honestly.”

Ada wasn’t embarrassed in the slightest at her little ploy being discovered. She didn’t look completely satisfied by Hecate’s assertions but she had no choice but to accept them. “Well, I’m glad to hear it,” she said. 

Seeing the open trunk on the floor, she changed the subject. “Reading another of your mother’s journals?” Ada asked curiously.

“Putting this one away for a bit, actually. I think I’ve had about as much of the past as I can endure for a little while,” Hecate said, placing the well worn journal onto the stack of identical books.

Ada looked distressed at the proclamation. “I can certainly understand that sentiment,” Ada said and paused. “However, there’s a big difference between the past that drags one back with it and that which helps us grow when we find a meaningful connection with it.”

Hecate nodded noncommittally, “Well, I’m not sure how much of a meaningful connection I’ve really been forming. These are certainly interesting, but my mother and I are so different, it’s a wonder that we can claim relation at all.” Hecate paused. “I’m the antithesis of everything she strove towards, and her me,” seeing Ada about to speak, Hecate hurried to continue. “And I’m not saying that because I’m upset about it, I’m happy to be the person that I am. But how much of a connection can I really claim to her?”

Ada sighed, saddened by the pain Hecate was clearly enduring despite the unemotional tone of her voice. “Oh, I don’t know about that,” Ada said slowly. “Just because you wear your hair in a bun and like a well-placed rule doesn’t mean that you’re not like your mother. Of course you strove for different goals, different lives will always form different longings. It’s how we pursue those longings that make us who we are.” 

Hecate only stared back at Ada, a little caught off guard by these philosophical musings. 

“Hecate, you’re loyal, strong-willed, independent and always willing to stand up for what you believe in whether other people agree or not. In fact, if you don’t mind me saying so, sometimes _more_ willing when you know others _don’t_ agree with you,” Ada chuckled. “I’d say that you’re very much like your mother indeed.”

Hecate sat in complete silence and swallowed hard. “Thank you, Ada. I’d never really thought about it in those terms before.” Hecate’s brow was furrowed but a satisfaction was twinkling in her eyes that made Ada’s heart melt with relief. 

“Well, I know that I for one am exhausted and I’m looking forward to a goodnight’s sleep,” Ada said as she got up to leave but turned back. “Hecate, don’t dwell on it, any of it. Get some sleep and let it slip away,” Ada said. She looked at Hecate with such intense sincerity that Hecate’s heart stopped for a moment. She nodded slightly, unsure of what to say. 

Ada nodded in affirmation and left, closing the door behind her. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! [Follow me on Tumblr](https://belladonnainbloom.tumblr.com/)


	11. The risk it took to blossom

Hecate was feeling a bit desperate to put the events of the weekend out of her mind. She busied herself putting away her unorganized herbs and potion paraphernalia, a task which while effectively busied her hands, did little to engage her mind. Her thoughts meandered over topics absently. 

Ordinary thoughts popped into her mind. She would need to order more mugwort soon, she was getting low. 

But more frequently her mind kept returning to Ada and that look that she had given her in the rose garden. And what had Miss Weststar meant with all her significant looks and talk about Ada’s high opinion of her? Had Ada said something to her about the two of them, she suddenly wondered. Said what, she chastised herself, what is there to say? 

Here’s that jar of rosemary she’d been looking for yesterday, she thought. Why was it tucked back here? She distracted herself with placing it on the proper shelf.

No matter how far she tried to send them, her thoughts always seemed to find their way back to Ada’s eyes examining her own. With her mind wandering freely, her thoughts took a sudden leap far from memory and into fantasy. Her hand grasping Ada’s hair, pushing Ada against the castle wall and pinning her there with her hips. Hecate bit her lip, startled. What is happening to me, she wondered. 

It had been a long time since she’d allowed herself to get carried away by a fantasy. Except the very recent episode with Pippa, of course. But that was different, it was impossible to escape that entrenched passion, that historical spark. 

And she and Ada didn’t exactly have that burning chemistry that she and Pippa always did. Isn’t that what Pippa had pointed out about them being opposites? But really, she thought, she was just as different from Ada as she was from Pippa. Ada walked into the world with a smile and a pink, floral dress, no less in contrast to Hecate’s dark, stern gloom. But the energy between them was never the spark of opposites; it was something softer, something subtler.

She considered it. They were never afraid to tell each other when they thought the other was wrong in how they saw the world. But it was different somehow. There was never a bite to their words, never a lack of respect. Even when Hecate violently opposed whatever Ada thought was correct, she would surely tell her so with passion but never with malice, never with a cruel joke or a sneer because Ada was so… well Hecate didn’t exactly know what. But she was Ada and Hecate felt an instinctual loyalty to her that was deeper than any petty difference could be. All she ever wanted to do was protect her, keep her safe and smiling, push her out of the way of danger that she couldn’t protect herself from. 

She thought of the firework from the day before. Walls. Hair. Hips. Stop it, Hecate chastised herself again.

She had never really considered her and Ada in that way before. 

Well, she supposed that was untrue. She had considered it before, but she had never allowed herself to entertain the idea. Whenever her thoughts had begun down a similar path, she had put a stop to their journey immediately. She was hardly going to form some desperate unrequited crush on Ada and spend her days hopelessly pining for her best friend. That was simply out of the question. 

But in certain moments when Ada had nearly skirted danger and looked at Hecate with such a warm glow of happiness, Hecate had such an urge to hold Ada’s face in her hands and kiss her. It didn’t even feel like longing persay, more like a natural instinct, as if that was what they always did. 

She had always assumed that she was letting herself get carried away by the moment, and had never considered that any advance of the kind would have been returned, but now… 

She had no idea what that look was supposed to mean. But on the bench, for a fleeting moment, she thought Ada was going to kiss her. And for a moment, she thought she would let her. 

Hecate blinked her eyes hard. Her mind is still addled from everything that happened this weekend, she reasoned. This will pass. 

***

Two weeks later

It did not pass. 

In fact, her feelings only seemed to increase in strength as the hectic weekend receded into memory and Hecate’s mind cleared enough to focus only on the present. 

Now that she was looking for signs of their existence, she was beginning to believe Ada’s feelings did not only reside inside her own mind, nor were they isolated to that one meaningful glance. 

Every day with Ada was filled with glances. Hecate saw glimpses of that glint in Ada’s eye occasionally throughout the day, something behind her smile…

Not only that, but once she allowed herself to indulge them, Hecate became fairly sure that her own feelings were neither as new, nor as isolated as she would have led herself to believe. She knew she was very good at pushing things down, putting emotions aside when they were inconvenient to her. But perhaps there were a few thoughts she didn’t have to guard so strictly, a few she could even allow to bubble up to the surface…

***

One week later

The twilight was settling in around the castle as Hecate’s feet carried her to Ada’s office door. She knocked to announce herself as she entered the warm, inviting room. 

“Good evening, Ada. Are you busy?” Hecate said, her gaze falling on Ada sitting placidly at her desk. 

“Hecate,” Ada said with a smile, not even bothering to address the concept of her being busy. “I was hoping you would drop by this evening, I feel as if I’ve barely seen you all day.” Ada rose from her desk seat, approaching her couch, inviting Hecate to do the same. 

Hecate walked closer with a grateful look. “I’ve been working on a new potion today, and I’m afraid it’s taken most of my time,” she said. 

“Oh, it must be fascinating if it’s kept you absorbed for so long. You’ll have to tell me all about it,” Ada said, eyes twinkling with kind interest. 

“I’m sure I will but not today. I’ve spent too many hours today thinking only of it. For now, I’d like to talk about anything else,” Hecate said, warming herself by the smouldering flames of the hearth fire. 

“Would you like tea?” Ada asked. 

“Yes, I’d love some,” Hecate replied, watching Ada transport another teacup towards her and pour a cup of Earl Grey. 

They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Hecate collected the nerve to start the conversation that she wished to have. “Ada, I’m sorry if this seems inappropriate given that it was weeks ago,” Hecate started. “But, I wanted to thank you for how kind you were to me in the garden that morning. It meant a great deal to me, and I want you to know that I haven’t forgotten it.”

Ada blushed and looked down at her lap momentarily with a mixture of pride and embarrassment. “No need to thank me, Hecate. I wasn’t being kind really, just being a friend, the way you always are to me.”

Hecate turned frankly toward her. “Well that’s just what I wanted to ask you about really. I wondered if that was true exactly,” she paused, “that you were just being a _friend_.” Hecate’s black eyes were piercing as she waited for Ada’s reaction.

“I’m not sure I know what you mean,” Ada said with a flustered look of confusion. 

Hecate slid her hand onto Ada’s cheek, cupping her face in her palm. “I think you do,” Hecate said. Without waiting for a reply, she leaned forward and kissed her softly on the lips.

For a moment, Ada was stone still, feeling Hecate’s lips pressing into her own. Once the initial shock wore off, she answered Hecate’s kisses with her own, pulling her closer with a kind of fervor. 

Hecate pulled away with a pleased look on her face, considering Ada’s own bewildered, flushed expression. 

Ada didn’t know what to say. She wondered momentarily whether she had fallen asleep at her desk and was now living inside a very vivid dream. Hecate was still holding her face in her palm, staring at her intently with black eyes smouldering like newly lit coal. 

“Hecate, are you sure?” Ada asked breathlessly in disbelief. 

Hecate’s thumb slid to Ada’s lower lip, trailing it’s outline gently. “Perfectly,” she uttered with such intense sincerity, it sent a wave of nervous longing through Ada’s entire body. Her body tingled seeing that look in Hecate’s face, made more beautiful by this rosy passion than any glamour could have made it. Ada kissed the thumb that was still lingering over her mouth.

Hecate’s mouth curled into a smile and she beant to Ada to renew their embrace. She pressed her body into Ada’s, feeling Ada’s breasts rise against her own with each hasty, shallow breath. She slid her hand down Ada’s body, caressing her perfect curves, fingers sliding up the side of her thigh, just under the hem that had been pushed above Ada’s knee as she angled herself against the side of the couch. 

Ada pulled Hecate onto her roughly, her insistent hands running over Hecate’s back, and through her hair. With a sudden yelp, Ada felt herself begin to slip off of the velvet chaise which was much too small to accomodate this sort of activity. She fumbled helplessly to catch herself, but could not seem to steady herself. Before she hit the ground, she felt Hecate’s strong grip around her upper body, easing her onto the floor gently. 

Hecate slid onto the floor beside her and pushed a laughing Ada into the carpet, a playful smile on her lips. “I don’t think this couch is working out very well,” she said with a cocked eyebrow. 

Ada, still laughing, surveyed the couch with a playful expression and shook her head, “No, I would say not.”

“Shall we go to my room,” Hecate asked seductively, without any expectation of being denied. 

Ada nodded with mock casualty as if she had been asked if she would like sugar in her coffee. “Lead the way,” she said. 

Hecate shook her head at Ada’s teasing smile and kissed her again. She wove her fingers into Ada’s and pressed their bodies tightly together. 

Ada felt Hecate’s body and her own dissolve into a shared non-reality for a nearly imperceptible moment as Hecate transported them into her bedroom. They landed perfectly on Hecate’s black sheets, Ada’s head was even propped perfectly onto the pillow beneath her. She marvelled at Hecate’s precision. “You’re very good at that,” she said, eyes gesturing to the perfect placement of the pillow. 

Hecate only raised her eyebrows in response and fixed Ada with another smouldering gaze as if intimating that that wasn’t all she was good at. 

They renewed their kisses, but by this point, kisses would no longer suffice. They began to dismantle their put-together selves piece by piece. Shoes were kicked off, shirts unbuttoned, Hecate’s hair unravelled in a cascading wave of black, and a pink cotton bra fell on top of one made of black lace.

Hecate straddled Ada, her kisses trailing up her neck to her earlobe. Ada’s hair smelled like warm vanilla, drawing you in with the promise of security and satisfaction. Her soft skin seemed to glow in the candlelight with an intoxicating golden aura of magic. 

Hecate felt Ada’s hands moving up her thighs, to her hips and waist. Before she had any time to react, Ada had flipped her onto her back with unexpected assertiveness. Hecate’s eyes lit up as she was forced down by Ada’s grip. She thought of forcing her way back to the top to finish what she started, but she couldn’t resist the feel of Ada’s hands sliding down her body. 

Hecate inhaled sharply as Ada’s fingers slid between her legs, moving against her lips in long paintbrush strokes. 

Hecate’s pale skin shimmered like rose tinted moonlight as Ada kissed down her stomach, nestling her face between those two awaiting ivory thighs. Ada touched Hecate tantalizingly slowly as if she was cherishing a precious heirloom placed delicately in her hands. Clearly, Ada felt no need to rush things; she wanted to build Hecate up until she was shuddering and senseless and shaking with pleasure. 

With every sudden flick of a finger in just the right place Hecate would let out a quiet, low moan. Hecate could see Ada relishing in every noise that escaped her throat, tensing her body and beaming with a devious pride in the effects of her tricks. Hecate felt like this was pleasing Ada nearly as much as it was pleasing her.

The rhythm of Ada’s fingers and tongue grew firmer and faster as Hecate’s moans became more desperate, more pleading. The grip of Hecate’s fingers in Ada’s hair tightened as her back curled forward with a violent half-stifled scream. She collapsed back to the pillow beneath her, the feel of Ada’s fingers moving up and down her arm, the only sensations pulling her back to reality.

With a sigh, Hecate leaned over to kiss Ada, dying to return the favor. She felt Ada begin to push on top of her again, but this time, she would not relent. 

“Don’t you dare,” she said softly into Ada’s ear. Her thigh was pressed between Ada’s and she could feel Ada’s hips moving against her slowly, pleadingly, yet Ada’s body was slightly tense, nervous. 

She sat up for just a moment to look at Ada’s body lying in surrender. Her skin was flushed with a peachy glow and her breasts drooped delicately on her chest, like two roses heavy with morning dew. Hecate leaned down to whisper in Ada’s ear, “You look incredible,” before taking the lobe between her teeth with a gentle bite. Ada exhaled in an almost moan and her body began to relax. 

Hecate glided her fingers over Ada’s thighs with ritualistic delicacy as if she was tracing spells over her skin. She pulled her thighs apart and led her fingers to Ada’s core. 

Ada’s entire body appeared to rise and fall with her heavy breathing. As Hecate’s fingers thrust inside of her, Ada let out a surprised gasp of delight. She held fast to Hecate’s shoulders as Hecate’s tongue circled over her nipple, winding its way over her breasts and down her stomach teasingly slow until finding its place between Ada’s sensitive lips. 

Without lessening the pressure of her fingers curling inside of Ada, she trailed her tongue slowly, softly, teasingly over her clit. Hecate glanced up to Ada’s face, to see it thrown back, forehead scrunched and mouth parted. “Yes,” she exhaled in a panting whisper. 

Hecate pulsed her fingers harder, feeling Ada’s thighs shake with each caress of her tongue. It wasn’t long before Ada’s back arched and then contracted into Hecate’s grasp, thighs clenched and shaking for a few moments that felt like infinity before her body relaxed, save a few unexpected jolts as Hecate brought her down, slowing her movements and sliding her fingers free with a final stroke. 

Ada felt as if her mind had stopped dead, overwhelmed by a sensation of a bliss somehow too simple and too complex to be put into words. 

They lay breathless, legs wrapped together in the cool night air. With the twist of one finger, Hecate coaxed a blanket over them both. Ada snuggled into her and rested her head against Hecate’s shoulder. 

“Hecate, that was incredible,” Ada said as if the reality of the situation was still hitting her. 

Hecate smiled. “It was,” she said, holding Ada close to her, hand stroking her short blonde hair with absent-minded pleasure, as if they had done this a hundred nights before.

“I feel as if I’m going to wake up suddenly and find that I’ve fallen into one of my fantasies,” Ada chuckled softly. 

Hecate cocked one eyebrow, interest piqued and said, “You’ve fantasized about me?”

Embarrassed and suddenly very aware of how red her cheeks had gotten, Ada said “Well…” and trailed off with a laugh. 

Pulling away to look Ada in the face, Hecate fixed her with an intense, playful gaze like a cat watching it’s favorite toy. “So in these fantasies of yours, what do I do exactly?”

“Usually very near to what you did just now,” Ada said, twisting a piece of Hecate’s hair between her fingers. 

“No, no, you don’t get off that easily,” Hecate grabbed her chin gently in her hand and turned her face to kiss across her cheek and whisper in Ada’s ear. “Why don’t you tell me about it?”

Feeling Hecate’s hand move beneath the blankets and onto her breast, Ada sighed. She had no choice but to acquiesce... 

A waxing moon shone through the window covering their bodies in soft light as the night turned on and on without any thought of sleep. 

***

The Present, the last day of fall term

The school was a cacophony of chaos as girls left for the holiday break. Hecate couldn’t turn a corner without finding a nervous mother asking her daughters if they had indeed packed all that they needed or nagging them to put on their gloves.

As the last of them filed out the door, Hecate and Miss Drill stood at the castle doors, seeing them off. “Goodbye, girls! Happy Holidays!” Miss Drill called out boisterously. 

“Happy Holidays!” a mixture of girls and parents called back cheerily.

“Happy Holidays, HB,” Mildred Hubble said as she passed with her mother. 

“You too, Mildred,” Hecate said in a stoic tone but the hint of a smile darted across her lips. 

As the doors closed behind them, Miss Drill sighed and checked her wrist watch. “Right. Well, that gives me just enough time to finish packing and leave for my mum’s before nightfall.” They turned and began to walk down the hall into the castle. “Do you and Ada have any special plans for Christmas this year?” Miss. Drill asked. 

“Yes, as it happens, I suppose that we do. Ada has a little secluded cottage in the country somewhere. So, we’re going there. Leaving tomorrow morning,” Hecate’s face lit up as she imagined it. 

“Oh, that sounds lovely,” Miss Drill said. “Sounds quite romantic, really,” she said, elbowing Hecate playfully in the ribs. 

Hecate looked at her as if she may have actually lost her mind. Miss Drill cleared her throat and laughed to herself. “No family either of you have to pop in on?”

“Luckily for both of us, no,” Hecate said. “But you are right, it does sound… lovely.” Hecate almost smiled and her eyes took on a wistful expression. 

Miss Drill chuckled silently at the uncharacteristic bouts of softness that seemed to come over Hecate ever since her and Ada made things official. At least as soft as Hecate could ever look without a potion. 

***

Hecate opened the door to Ada’s office. Ada sat dozing on her couch with her back turned to the door and two black cats sleeping at her feet. 

Hecate closed the door and as silently as one of those cats, prowled up behind her. Placing her hands on the velvet sofa, she leaned down to Ada’s ear. “Good afternoon, Ada,” she said softly. 

Ada jerked awake. “Oh,” she smiled at Hecate’s face bending so close to her own. “Good afternoon, dear. I was just resting my eyes a bit,” she said. 

“Of course you were,” Hecate said with a smile and kissed Ada on the cheek. “Are you packed for tomorrow at least?”

“Yes, everything is ready to go,” Ada said gesturing to her bags in the corner. 

“Good,” Hecate said with a warm smile as she took a seat beside Ada on the couch. A disturbed cat jumped up to her lap for a scratch behind the ears as it curled up to return to slumber. 

Hecate conjured a book in front of her and Ada let her head fall onto Hecate’s shoulder as they all warmed themselves in the glow of the fire. 

Hecate sighed. Miss Drill was right, she thought, this should be a lovely Christmas. A lovely Christmas, indeed.

The End.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone who stuck around until the end of this, thank you so much for reading! I get that this isn’t the endgame that some of you were hoping for, as is the nature of any story involving a love triangle. And I totally get that in some ways, this story probably doesn’t completely satisfy either Hackle or Hicsqueak shippers being Hackle endgame with a much more complex Hicsqueak backstory but hey, it is what it is. I enjoyed writing it and I hoped you enjoyed reading it. Come talk to me on [Tumblr](https://belladonnainbloom.tumblr.com/) :)


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